Not Yet
by Half-Blind Otaku
Summary: Coming to terms with one's own imperfections isn't easy, but with people counting on you, there is no more room for self-doubt. Perfect or not, time waits for no one; you have to be ready when it's your turn to carry the torch, and recognize when to let someone else step up to help you carry it. A Future AU based on my first story, "I'm Not Perfect."
1. Interview With A Huntress

**Author's Note: Okay, so before we begin, I would like to offer a little explanation; this is, in essence a Future AU based on my first story, 'I'm Not Perfect.' I've been thinking about this for months now, and I've had most of this chapter sitting on my computer for months, and so I just today figured I'd post this first chapter and see how it goes. How this is going to work is that the chapters are going to take place either 14 years in the future, such as this present one, wherein the canon characters have settled into their adult lives and in which an OC team will be prominently featured (I promise to try not to write Seus - criticism is always welcome), or, like the next chapter I have planned, they will take place a scant 4 years ahead of "I'm Not Perfect" focusing pretty exclusively on the canon characters (Namely Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha as well) as they approach their graduation. For clarity's sake I will note which time period we're dealing with in each chapter through the author's notes. While this chapter is going to be an admittedly slow start, I do pledge here and now to try and include action that will hopefully live up to my previous story. Finally, I know that I posted this yesterday as a continuation of "I'm Not Perfect" but I'll level with you; I was half asleep at the time, and upon further reflection, this really is going to be it's own thing, so I'm officially swapping the 'continuation' label for 'sequel' instead. Anyway, without further ado, I do hope you enjoy if you haven't already, and I always look forward to whatever feedback that you care to leave.**

* * *

**Corolla Mädchen**** the Aspiring Huntress**

* * *

It was a wintery day in northern Vale, and a dusting of snow covered the ground and tress that surrounded the little village. There were perhaps a few dozen log-cabin style buildings in all, mostly homes, but signs hanging in front of a few of them marked them out as shops: Dust, butcher, baker, candle-stick maker, etc. Cold as the day was, children could still be seen scrambling about between the houses, throwing snowballs and building forts, all bundled up nice and warm. The streets were unpaved and nearest one house could be found to be set relative to another was a good thirty feet of open space. All told, it was a nice little contrast to the densely-packed bustle of Urban Vale. Ten years ago though, this nice little hamlet hadn't existed, as this part of the kingdom had previously been a hotbed of Grimm activity, that is, until the local Huntress took up residence.

Adjusting her bright green scarf as she let out a sigh, causing a long plume of fog to spill out of her mouth in the form of a sigh, Corolla Mädchen halted in her progress to turn back and cast an impatient look at her best friend, "Come _on, _Rhiannon's! There's a _dozen _Dust shops in Vale!"

"Ya, I know, but-,"

"We came here for a reason Rhiannon's…" Corolla started tapping her foot, but she couldn't help cracking a smile as she offered a compromise, "We can always check it out _after _we meet her,"

"Aye," Rhiannon's MacCoul finally found the motivation to pry herself from the glass of the display window of the little Dust shop, "But I'm gonna hold ye to that,"

"Sure thing,"

"So which one of these houses is 'er's"

"Um…"

Rhiannon's snorted in her amusement, "Thought _ye _were s'posed to be the responsible one..." she weaved her fingers together behind her head and looked over at a few local children having a snowball fight, "Mayhap we ought just ask these little buggers-,"

"Got it!" Corolla interrupted, having fished the map out of the pocket of her green winter jacket and looking it over intently, "Let's see… It's… This one!" She showed Rhiannon's the map, her finger placed on the northernmost house represented.

Rhiannon's cocked her head, "A'ight then, lead the way,"

Corolla's shoulders slumped, "Seriously? You don't think you could find that? It's the last thing before the edge of the village!"

"'Course I _could," _Rhiannon's allowed, "But ye should know me by now; I'm just too damn lazy,"

"…"

"What?"

"Nothing… It's just… It's a good thing I like you…"

"Damn straight!" Corolla's red-headed friend grinned from ear to ear as she slung an arm over Corolla's shoulder, "Besides, how'd you reach the top shelf w'thout me?"

"I'm not _that short!_" Corolla shot back with a pout, drawing a few curious looks from the nearby children, and consequently lowering her voice, a bit embarrassed at having let Lydia rile her like that, "Anyway… Let's go and… Let _me _do the talking, okay?"

"Right-o, then,"

With another deep breath and a nod, Corolla started to move again, looking more at the map than where she was going, "So the square's just up ahead… then we take a right…"

After about ten minutes Corolla had managed to find their intended destination. At a cursory glance, it was just another humble log-cabin; one floor, surrounded by a little snow-covered yard, but the place was marked out by a wreath of roses hanging on the door, as well as what looked to be out of season rose bushes hugging the walls.

"Certainly looks like the place," Rhiannon's raised an eyebrow as she shifted her attention between the residence and her scroll, on which was displayed the file of the woman they'd come here to see, "'Bet the place looks real pretty-like in the spring,"

"Ruby Rose indeed…" Corolla whistled.

"Well? Don't just stand there! Ye wanted to do the talkin,' so go knock on the-," Rhiannon's encouragement was interrupted, however, when a little snowball smashed into the back of her head, getting in her red hair and falling down the back of her neck.

"You talk funny lady!" one of the local children teased, provoking a cacophony of laughter from the other kids.

"Rhiannon, don't-," Corolla tried to reign her friend in, having seen that evil smile plenty of times before on her face, but it was a useless effort.

"Corolla," Lydia said evenly, bending down to scoop up a handful of snow, "Ye can handle our little meet 'n' greet ya? Seems I've been invited…" She spun on her heel to pitch her own snowball back at the crowd of children, who al scattered, squealing with delight, "I'll meet ye at the Dust shop in a couple hours, ya?"

"Not like I've got much choice…"

It had always been like this really; they'd met in their first year of Signal and been best friends ever since. Lydia had always been stubborn and distractible, but always fun to be around, if not always the most diligent of partners. This sort of thing happened wherever they went though, because Lydia loved kids. Possibly owing to the fact that she was the oldest of _sixteen, _and so she'd had to learn to love them, but either way, she never missed a chance to let her own inner child loose, and kids usually loved her for it.

Corolla herself had always been the more diligent of the two; not that she was a wet blanket herself, but she was better at channeling her enthusiasm. Dad was a police officer and Mom had always taught her to help people, so training to be a huntress was a natural fit, and so the last push she'd needed to make her decision when she was a little girl had been Angela Snow. Apparently a distant relative, Angela had periodically sent her letters, starting with one attached to a present for her fourth birthday. The gift had been a box full of candy, and the letter contained Angela's introduction, as well as her return address at Beacon academy in case Corolla wanted to send her a letter in return. After asking her mother what Beacon Academy was, Corolla decided then and there that she wanted to be like Angela Snow, despite never having met her; it was a childishly impulsive decision upon reflection, but after almost fourteen years and eight semesters at Signal, she hadn't lived to regret it yet. Dismissing any remaining hesitation from her mind, Corolla reached forward and knocked a few times on the front door.

There was a yelp from inside, "Uh… Just a minute!" Corolla blinked a few times, and then winced at the baffling sounds of a great many things suddenly falling over on the other side of the door, but didn't dwell on it, as she had to duck a stray snowball as the door opened, "Sorry, I just had to-," Silver eyes blinked a few times in surprise as the snowball struck her face, "Uh… What?"

Corolla's hands flew to her mouth as she stood and gasped, "I am so sorry-, I ducked to avoid it-, I didn't know you'd-,"

Ruby Rose wiped the snow from her face with one hand, "No, no, it's fine; happens all the time actually… Aaaaanyway, come on in!"

After an apologetic bow, Corolla did as instructed, and followed the full-fledged huntress back into her home. Inside was a warmly burning fireplace which dominated the front room which also featured several comfortable looking chairs and a coffee table. From the kitchen wafted the smell of baking cookies. The place just felt sort of… cozy.

"So you're… Ruby Rose? The Huntress?"

"Yep, that'd be me," Ruby nodded with a smile and a gesture towards one of the chairs, "Have a seat; the cookies should be done in ten minutes or so… and take the jacket off and stay a while, well… if you want to…"

"What was that commotion a second ago?" Corolla asked confusedly.

"Oh, that…" Ruby rubbed the back of her head nervously, "I might have knocked over a stack of dirty dishes in the kitchen, but never mind that, let's talk about _you,_" Ruby cocked her head as they both took seats, "You're… Corolla Mädchen, right?"

Corolla nodded.

"Weren't there supposed to be two of you though?"

"Yeah…" Corolla nodded gesturing back toward the door, "Lydia's… Well she's playing with the kids outside, I guess…"

"Ah," The older woman nodded sagely, "I've been there… Just yesterday actually…"

Corolla cocked her head, "Really?"

"Totally!" Ruby affirmed emphatically, "Every time it snows," She leaned in closer, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial tone, "Between you and me, I win every time,"

Corolla just blinked a few more times, _Is she serious?_

"But enough about that…" Ruby leaned back a bit, "you're here for… some kind of interview… thing… right?"

Somewhat relieved to be back on subject, Corolla nodded, "I-," She caught herself, rolling her eyes, "_We _were supposed to Interview an active Huntsman or huntress before we graduate from Signal and-,"

"Really?" It was Ruby's turn to cock her head in puzzlement, "I never had to do that…"

"Mr. Qrow said that all Signal students had to do this before graduation…"

Ruby's eyes widened in realization, "Oooooh…. That's why…"

"Hmmm?"

"It's nothing really…" Ruby blushed a bit, "I just got bumped up two years to Beacon…"

"Mr. Qrow did say you were pretty awesome but…"

"I don't know about that..." Ruby was blushing furiously now, "Uncle Qrow's just biased…"

"Wait, Mr. Qrow's your _Uncle?_" Corolla asked, amazed.

"Yep; taught me everything I knew before I went to Beacon," Ruby beamed, but then seemed to remember what they were supposed to be talking about, "So was Uncle Qrow one of your main instructors?"

"He's my and Rhiannon's guidance counselor," Corolla nodded, slightly bewildered; Qrow had never mentioned that her interviewee was his niece.

"Neat," Ruby commented leaning over and sifting through a pile of envelopes on her coffee table, "Let's see… Uncle Qrow… Uncle Qrow… Ah! Here it is!" She picked up one of the envelopes and pulled out the letter inside, scanning it quickly, "Let's see here…" Her eyes read over the little bio enclosed, "He says here that you and Lydia have already been accepted to Beacon…" Her eyebrow cocked at one particular line, "And you've been awarded the Glynda Goodwitch Memorial Scholarship? That's really impressive…"

"That was hard work," Corolla nodded, a tired look passing over her just thinking of it, "I almost didn't get my marks up high enough…"

"I bet," Ruby agreed with a nostalgic little smile, "My old partner from Beacon endowed it, and let me tell you, she was a _perfectionist,_"

"You knew Weiss Schnee? Like, from the Schnee Dust Company?" Corolla asked, amazed.

Ruby nodded, her grin broadening and taking on a somewhat sly quality, though Corolla couldn't puzzle out why, "She works at Beacon too; you'll probably have her as a teacher if you get up there before she works herself into an early grave. As a matter of fact, she's actually coming to visit this afternoon believe it or not,"

"Wait… Am I going to be in the way?" Corolla shifted nervously in her seat, "I mean… I'd love to thank her in person but I don't want to overstay my welcome…"

"Don't worry about it," Ruby shook her head, "She's coming for dinner, along with my sister and her old partner; it's a team reunion thing… so we've got like four hours,"

"Okay…" Corolla sighed, "But I don't know how one person could balance that much on her plate at once," she slumped back in her chair, mind blown, "How does she do it? And have time to visit old friends? Does she sleep?"

"I don't know," Ruby said wistfully, "But she's always been pretty amazing… Maybe a bit abrasive at first, but once you get to know her…"

"Miss Rose?"

"Wha-! Oh, sorry… I kinda spaced… I do that sometimes…"

"Okay…" Corolla scrutinized her senior quizzically, but let it go in favor of another question that niggled at the back of her mind more and more as she looked at the Huntress, "I'm sorry, this is probably gonna sound weird, but… Have we met somewhere before?"

Ruby fell quiet for a bit, carefully scrutinizing Corolla now in turn, "Hmmm… Corolla Mädchen… Mädchen… Corolla Mädchen…" Her eyes flashed with recognition, and then perplexingly, panic, "Uh-oh…"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ruby responded, standing abruptly and heading into the kitchen, before returning with a vase full of white roses, "I just forgot to put these out… Just in case…"

Corolla eyed the flowers curiously, "Well those are pretty, but what are they for?"

"Oh, just apology flowers…"

"Apology flowers?"

"Yeah…" Ruby nodded, "When you screw up as much as I do… It's just good to keep a few around…"

"But aren't you a top-notch huntress or something?"

"Oh definitely," Ruby lit up a little bit at the praise, but she sobered again, "I'm uh… not so hot with people though… Fighting monsters is simple… People… not so much…"

Corolla could only look on, confused, as Ruby Rose appeared to shrink back into her seat, "Uh… should I come back some other time?"

Ruby shook her head, snapping herself out of it, "No, no, I can do this! Let's hear those questions!"

"Right," Corolla nodded, fishing out the scribbled list of questions from the same pocket she'd pulled the map from earlier, "Um… Let's see… Why did you want to become a Huntress?"

"Oh, that's easy: 'Cause it's _awesome!_" Ruby suddenly enthused, anxiety seemingly gone, "I always used to read the stories and it's just so much more romantic-, and you get to help people-, y'know?"

Corolla blinked a few times, "Uh… more romantic than what?"

"You know…" The full-fledged huntress looked like she was about to clam up again, "I just like the idea of being a hero and stuff…"

"Oh…" Corolla glanced back down at the back of the slightly crumpled paper on which were printed the questions that she was supposed to ask, "…What would you say was your biggest challenge in becoming a Huntress?"

"Hmmm…" Ruby leaned back in her chair to think it over, "If I had to say anything… it's probably getting paid…"

Corolla raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

Ruby fiddled nervously with her thumbs, "Well… you know… It's just… awkward when you have to go back and collect pay for a job…"

"…"

"I'm uh… also not really good with money…"

"…"

Ruby laughed nervously, "Weis actually uh… insists on helping me keep track of my finances…"

"Really?" Corolla asked in disbelief, "Do you not make enough?"

"No, no, I make plenty…" Ruby insisted, "I just… I like sweets… Weiss says I'm a 'spendthrift…' whatever that means… I guess it's for the best though; _she _was the one who made me learn to bake _my own cookies-_,"

"Miss Rose…"

"Yes?"

"I think something's burning…"

"Gah!" Ruby sprang from her seat and bolted to the kitchen faster than Corolla's eyes could follow, "Sorry! Just a minute!" There was a violent clattering from the kitchen, and something shattered, "Don't worry! It's totally fine!" Nonetheless, there was a loud spraying noise and Corolla saw the white spray of a fire extinguisher from around the corner.

"Are you sure?" Corolla asked hesitantly.

"Yes!" Ruby called back, "Nothing to worry about; I only set _half _of them on fire!"

_On fire?_

Shortly thereafter, Ruby returned to the living room with a sigh, a small plate laden with a scant half dozen blackened cookies, "Want one?" she offered weakly.

"Um… No thanks…"

"Yeah… Me neither…"

Corolla cleared her throat, "Alright then, moving right along… What do you think is the most important part of being a huntress?"

* * *

"And _that _is why you must _always _keep your weapon in good working order!"

Corolla couldn't help a little chuckle, "Noted… but uh… as much as I enjoyed the story…" She glanced down at her scroll – over an _hour _had passed, "it doesn't really answer my question…"

"Huh…" Ruby Rose snapped back to attention, "Oh… sorry… I got distracted…"

"Uhuh…"

"What was the question again…?"

"What was the most important part of being a huntress?"

"Oh right!" Ruby Rose perked up, "Well _that _would have to be-," Unfortunately, the resumption of the interview was interrupted by several knocks on the door, whereupon the fully-fledged Huntress froze, "Oh crap… Please tell me that's your friend…"

"Probably not…" Corolla commented, "She said she'd meet me at the Dust shop after we were done here…"

Ruby's face fell, "Then she's early… I guess I should have known… she's always early…"

As her interviewee got up from her chair and made for the door, Corolla stood as well, "I think I've got enough to work with…" she offered, "I can leave now if you like…"

"No, no, this isn't your fault – _I _was the one who kept blabbing on and on about Crescent Rose… Besides… you wanted a chance to meet Weiss Schnee, right?"

"Well yeah… but I wouldn't want to impose…"

"Eh… don't worry about it," the Crimsonette waved off the aspiring Huntress's concerns as she answered the door, "Hey Weiss! You sure are _early _today…"

"Don't be ridiculous Ruby, punctuality is key; to be _early _is to be on time-,"

"And to be on time is to be late… Yeah I get it…" The cloaked huntress grumbled like a kid, "It's just that you're usually not _three hours _early... I haven't had the chance to clean up…"

"Why do you think I'm here?" The ivory-haired huntress huffed as she hung her cardigan on a coatrack beside the door, pausing when she saw Corolla's, "Ruby.. Who's coat is…" Turning around, Weiss Schnee laid eyes on Corolla Mädchen, and froze, "You didn't mention that you'd be having… other guests, Ruby…"

"Well no..." the Crimson-garbed Huntress twiddled her thumbs nervously, rather like a child being scolded for some reason, "Uncle Qrow asked me to agree to an interview for some seniors at Signal… So uh, Weiss, meet Corolla Mädchen, Corolla Mädchen, _Weiss Schnee…_"

"Hi…" Corolla greeted weakly; Weiss Schnee actually wasn't all that much taller than she was, and she was slightly built besides, but there was just some kind of intimidating air about her. Corolla had expected her to be formal, but her expectations hadn't prepared her for the icy gaze of Weiss Schnee, "I'm… I'm Corolla…"

_Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_

"So I'm told…" Weiss Schnee responded dryly, "As I recall, _you _won this year's Glynda Goodwitch scholarship, right?"

"Y-yes!" Corolla nodded, "And I can't thank you enough – this has been my dream since I was four and-,"

"Take my advice," Weiss Schnee cut her off, "Thank me _after initiation – _if you still want to do this that is…" She turned back to her old partner, "Ruby, a word in the kitchen if you wouldn't mind?'

The younger huntress gulped, "Y-yeah… okay… but did you notice the flowers? They're you favorite color-,"

"And completely irrelevant Red…" Weiss rolled her eye as she dragged Ruby out of the room by the hood.

Corolla could hear the two whispering at each other in the kitchen – it was a small house after all, and there wasn't a door separating the spaces either – but she couldn't make out what was being said. Either way though, she was beginning to feel more and more awkward standing in a total stranger's living room alone, but it gave her plenty of time to stew over precisely how much she suddenly wanted to die. She'd wanted to thank Weiss Schnee for the scholarship since she'd received the confirmation letter, and for weeks she'd been running through what she would say to the Chief Operational Officer of the Schnee Dust Company in the Vale Regency if she ever got the chance, but now that she'd been presented with that chance, her rehearsals had deserted her… _I just hate being on the spot like that! _

Corolla sighed, "Oh well…"

Corolla was roused from her musings by the sound of a utilitarian ring tone emanating from a scroll in the kitchen, followed in short order by a cease in the aggravated whispers as the newcomer – Corolla still wasn't sure that she believed it was the actual Weiss Schnee – spoke, "We'll discuss this later; I have to take this," before she walked back out across the living room and stepped outside to answer her scroll.

"Saved by the bell," The Crimson-haired Huntress sighed in relief as she re-entered her living room, "Or the scroll… for the moment… Oh never mind…"

"She seems…"

"Like a huge grump? Yeah, she's always like that with new people, but deep down, past all the angry looks, lectures, a few miles of ice and… and… where was I going with that…?"

"She seems mean, _but…_" Corolla said helpfully.

"Oh yeah…" Ruby nodded, "She's only angry because she cares… most of the time…"

"She didn't seem happy to see me…"

"Don't take it personally; she's never happy to see anyone," Ruby chuckled, "Most of the time…"

"It must have been hard to be partnered with her…"

"Oh absolutely," Ruby answered without pause, "She's an abrasive, workaholic _taskmaster… _but it all worked out for the best,"

"I'll try to remember that…" It was Corolla's turn to sigh, but before she could speak up again, the woman in question returned, pocketing her scroll as she opened the door.

"Corolla,"

"Y-yes?"

"I think you're friend out there needs a hand," the Schnee Heiress gestured out the window to where Rhiannon MacCoul – or more accurately, Rhiannon MacCoul's _foot – _could be seen jutting gracelessly out of a pile of snow recently dislodged from the roof of a house.

"Oh God…" Corolla facepalmed, before turning back to her interviewee with an apologetic little bow, "I am _so sorry, _but I really do have to go help her-,"

"No prob," Ruby Rose smiled, extending a hand to shake by way of farewell, "I think we pretty much covered the basics… even if we didn't stick to your questions…"

Corolla accepted the handshake, "Thank you Ma'am; it's been a pleasure,"

"Ooh… Did you hear that Weiss? She called me _'Ma'am!'_"

"Don't let it go to your head Red,"

With one final bow and thank-you, Corolla showed herself out, hastily grabbing her coat and scarf as she bolted to help dig her friend out, letting the door swing shut on its own, "Rhiannon!"

* * *

"She doesn't really remind me of you…" Ruby commented absently as she and Weiss watched the aspiring huntress try to dig her friend free out Ruby's front window.

Weiss sighed, easing into one of the chairs, "No, she doesn't, but then, she didn't have _my _father…" Weiss's expression hardened again, "And don't think you're off the hook, Ruby; you should not have scheduled this for _today!_"

"I already apologized! I swear, I just forgot!" Ruby made her own apologetic bow, "I didn't even recognize her at first! You _know _I wouldn't spring something like this on you _on purpose!_"

"I know, I know…" Weiss allowed as she massaged her temples, "It was just… a surprise…"

"You do hate those…"

"And always have," The Heiress agreed, "They do seem to love me though…"

"Hmmm…" The Crimsonette pondered aloud, "Work been rough?"

"Between re-negotiating contracts, reviewing transcripts, and slaying the odd Grimm? Yeah, kinda…"

"Well worry no more! This is a house of relaxation!" Ruby declared emphatically with a grandiose sweeping gesture.

"And burning cookies?"

"That too…"

Character Bio: Corolla Mädchen

Loosely inspired by the short story "The Dandelion Girl," Corolla is Weiss' half-sister, being the daughter of Weiss' estranged mother and her second husband (see 'I'm Not Perfect' chapters 6 and 16). She has wanted to be a huntress since the age of four (as mentioned above) because of _Angela Snow _(read: Weiss Schnee) from Beacon academy sent her a birthday present and young Corolla decided that she wanted to help people just like Angela Snow, so she decided to be a Huntress as well. Unlike Weiss however, Corolla is unaware of their family connection. She is generally an optimist, on the studious side, and determined, but she does know how to relax, perhaps unlike Weiss.

She is a goldenrod blonde, and her favorite colors are Yellow and green – her combat attire is loosely inspired by a Japanese-style archery uniform, albeit with more tailored trousers in green and a short-sleeved yellow blouse, plus green wrist-guards and sandals. Her weapon (Lövenzahn) consists a pair of golden-colored Katana, one longer than the other, both of which combine at the hilt to form a Yumi-Style bow from which she fires Dust-treated arrows which she carries in a quiver at her hip. Finally, her Semblance is the ability to look backward and forward through time (in the former case, to see what _did _happen, and in the latter, what will happen _if _she doesn't intervene), which is her primary relationship, albeit a somewhat tangential link.


	2. Steps Apart

**Author's Note: Alright, for this chapter we're going to take it back ten years prior to the previous one. Hopefully you enjoy, and possibly identify, but you'll have to be the judge of that. As always, I appreciate any feedback that you care to leave! **

* * *

**Weiss Schnee the Aspiring Huntress**

* * *

Weiss Schnee took a deep breath, raising Myrtenaster at the ready. Four years had passed since she'd last faced off with this opponent – four long, grueling years of training, study, field operations, and patience – and now she finally had the opportunity to test herself and see if all her effort had paid off. For a moment, all was silent as her friends and peers looked on, eager to see the results of the match unfold. Normally there might be good-natured cheering at an event such as this, but the palpable tension in the air was so thick that it smothered any thought of levity; this was to be a solemn duel – a matter of pride. She _had to do this; _no way in _hell _was Weiss Schnee going to have it said that all it took to defeat her was some improvise _melon-hammer! _Meanwhile, the past four years had done nothing to dim the human incarnation of giddiness that was Nora Valkyrie, who stood across the way from Weiss, cheerily swirling Magnhild as she bounced about in anticipation of a good fight.

_She probably doesn't even remember… _Weiss reasoned with herself, but even after four years, wounded pride still bugged her. It wasn't as though she actually bore Nora any ill will over some stupid food fight, but as Goodwitch signaled for the match to begin, the Heiress couldn't help a little smile, _But damn, it's gonna feel good to win this… _

And then she was off, ivory-white hair trailing behind her as she summoned a glyph at her feet and surged forward to score the opening blow. Nora managed to parry with the haft of her hammer, but no matter, she had to step back in doing so, which was what Weiss had needed. Nora was almost monstrously strong, _true, _but Weiss was faster - both to move and to strike – and before Nora could recycle the momentum from the twirl of her hammer into a swing, Weiss was behind her. Still, it should never be said that Nora Valkyrie had slow reflexes, as rather than attempting that futile swing, she swiftly collapsed Magnhild into its grenade launcher form, aimed it backward – blind – and let loose with a volley of pink explosives.

_That was… close…_Weiss thought as she pirouetted away from the blast, tossing in a few slashes for good measure as she did so, but she didn't stay in reach long enough to take the hit when Nora re-deployed Magnhild's hammer mode and took a swing, _Blocking that with Myrtenaster is out of the question… _

Four years of Beacon Academy had taught the Schnee Heiress a great many things, not the least of which concerning life as a whole, not just combat. She still had her pride, but she liked to think that she kept it in check, and though the idea had taken some getting used to, she'd eventually learned to care for and rely on her teammates when necessary. Right now though, probably the most relevant of her life lessons had to be never to meet strength with strength – while Weiss had certainly toned up and put on some muscle in the past four years, trying to match brute strength with Nora Valkyrie was never a good idea…

_Alright… time to get creative… _

As JNPR's bubbly hammer-wielder bounded over, ready to swing, Weiss activated Myrtenaster's red chamber and concentrated. Maintaining control of the Dust as it flowed down her blade, she used the fire not as a projectile, but as an extension of her reach, allowing her to effectively make a slashing stroke at her opponent from several yards distant. The fire didn't stop Nora, but then Weiss hadn't expected it to – not in one stroke anyway. When Nora closed to within Magnhild's reach, Weiss quickly called up another glyph at her feet and used this one to launch herself into the air, summersaulting over her opponent's head and making three slashes with her blazing weapon in quick sequence before landing behind Nora as the hammer-wielder spent her swing on the empty air where Weiss _had been _an instant before. Seizing the opportunity, Weiss pivoted to face the redhead's back, adding her turning force to a thrust with Myrtenaster, and discharged some extra fire Dust for good measure as she struck her target in the back.

"Yeah!" Yang cheered, "Way to get 'er done!"

_I'd say that about makes up for the melon-hammer… _Weiss mentally noted as Nora tumbled forward, _But let's not get ahead of ourselves Yang… _

Indeed, while Nora was off her feet for the moment, it would be a brief respite, as Nora turned her tumble into a roll. While the giggling berserker did not spring right back to her feet, she did collapse her hammer as she rolled, and while still on the ground when she came to a stop, she was perfectly positioned to fire off one, two, and _three _grenades at the Schnee Heiress. Fortunately, Weiss was able to form a barrier glyph before her to catch the blasts, but by the time the colorful smoke cleared, Nora was back on her feet and charging full tilt.

_That was fast! _

"Look out Weiss!" Ruby warned from the sides.

"Good luck!" Pyrrha called as well, although to whom the encouragement had been addressed was somewhat ambiguous.

_Time to see just how nimble Nora really is… _Weiss thought, a slight smirk on her face as she rotated Myrtenaster's chamber to the light blue setting and swept the point of her rapier along the ground before her, causing ice to surge forward and coat most of the battlefield, _She's really good Weiss, but she doesn't have a plan; you've got this!_

This was her element; as Nora's footing began to slip, Weis – with the aid of her Semblance – glided gracefully across the ice to get in a thrusting strike as she passed her opponent. For a moment, Nora's arms worked like pinwheels in an effort to stabilize herself, but as Weiss came around for another pass, Nora turned her hammer backwards and squeezed the trigger, and the subsequent recoil launched her into a wild spin. As uncontrolled as the maneuver was, the rapid spinning of Nora's hammer effectively made her a difficult target for the melee pass Weiss had been going for.

_Alright… _

Not missing a beat, Weiss adjusted her trajectory to skate around Nora in a circle, tracing the ring around her opponent with Myrtenaster's tip, trigger pulled all the while. As Weiss passed, the frost Dust reacted, and a thick ring of ice began to rise around Nora as she was still struggling to recover from her self-induced tailspin, and at about twelve feet off the ground, the Ice began to grow towards the center to seal the hammer-wielder inside.

Despite not quite being at a stop, Nora slammed her hammer into the ground and launched herself skyward to land atop the icy structure as the top froze shut, and with an ear to ear grin she called down to Weiss, "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the – _oof!_"

Weiss interrupted Nora's little chat with a darkening glyph, causing her to slip and slam face-first into the icy deck, causing Ren – who was also watching in the audience – to Facepalm, and several other spectators to wince as Weiss used a glyph to reach the elevated plain her Dust had created, reloading her two spend Dust cartridges, _Almost got her… Maintaining control is the key…_

For chivalry's sake, Weiss waited, blade at the ready, as Nora got back to her feat without the benefit of a glyph to stabilize her footing, "Are you alright Nora?"

The pink-clad redhead laughed, "You kidding? I'm having a _BLAST!_" With that, she collapsed Magnhild again and fired off round after round, forcing Weiss to skate about the perimeter of the small frozen plateau to avoid being hit.

_Nora… _Weiss couldn't help a little smile as she came around to deliver a thrust, _Always about the fun of it… Hard to believe I won't see her – or any of them – all the time anymore in a few months…_

Nora managed to block Weiss's first stroke with the side of Magnhild in its collapsed form, but a low follow-up jab connected and Nora stumbled, _Alright Weiss, time to seal the-_

Mid-stumble, Nora made a sweep at Weiss's legs, breaking up the Heiress's momentum, and then made her own follow-up attack by slamming the stock into Weiss's stomach. As Weiss reeled, Nora seized the opportunity to reactivate Magnhild's hammer function and score a very direct and _very heavy _blow which sent the Heiress flying.

As Nora cheered and waved 'good-bye' Weiss groaned, tumbling through the air until she conjured a vertical glyph to catch herself and, taking an instant to switch Myrtenaster to her recently added violet-colored chamber, _Alright… time to end this. _Thus resolved, Weiss used the glyph to fire herself back at Nora as though from a canon, Myrtenaster's trigger depressed all the while. As she careened towards her target though, it wasn't lost on Weiss that Nora was hefting Magnhild for another swing, _I guess we're about to find out who's faster after all… _

As Nora swung though, Weiss realized that she was going to be hit, but as _inconvenient _as that was, she'd planned for that, and so rather than holding Myrtenaster poised to strike again, she used it – supplemented by a considerable burst of her aura – to dampen the impact from Magnhild. Even so, Weiss was knocked well off course by the blow and skidded to a stop on one knee on the ice below the raised platform on which Nora still stood.

"I got y-!"

Nora didn't get to finish her cheerful comment though, and Weiss allowed herself a little satisfied smile as the lightning Dust she'd trailed behind her crackled to life and the sudden surge of heat and electricity struck Nora down from the platform to land just behind Weiss, on her stomach. Standing holding Myrtenaster's tip to Nora's back for a moment before removing it and offering a hand, Weiss smiled, "_Who's _queen of the castle?"

Nora blinked a few times, a bit dazed. The lightning Dust had left her hair frizzy and even slightly charred in places, but as she accepted Weiss' hand up, her usual giddy smile returned, "I guess we can share…"

Weiss laughed, "God, we're too old to screw around like this…"

"No such thing as too old!" Nora protested, giving her a fond punch on the shoulder before suddenly staggering, "Whoa… Stood up too fast…"

"Winner: Weiss Schnee," Professor Goodwitch concluded, "And well fought ladies; you've both come a long way,"

"Thank you Ma'am," Weiss bowed slightly to the professor.

Goodwitch nodded approvingly before checking the time on her scroll, "Now it seems that will be all for today's class ladies and gentlemen. You are all doing quite well, and I can safely say that I feel each and every one of you is prepared for graduation – that said, try to remember that graduation is _still _two months away, and don't slack off just because you're almost done here at Beacon," After various nods and verbalized affirmatives, Goodwitch nodded again, "Very well then, have a good day; dismissed,"

As the students began to disperse from the training field, Weiss returned Myrtenaster to her hip, _Just two more months huh… _

"OhmyGodWeissthatwasAWESOME!" The Heiress was rather suddenly startled from her melancholy as her leader glomped her from behind, "_You _are awesome!"

Despite her minor irritation as she pried her fearless leader off, Weiss couldn't help a small smile, "Well yes, I _suppose…_"

"Ah look at you bein' modest!" Yang teased, "Few years ago and you wouldn't of hesitated to rub that in our faces!"

And like that Weiss' mood soured again, "Oh shut up!"

"In all seriousness," It was Blake this time, offering a wink and a hand to shake, "Well done, but tell me, does revenge taste like watermelon?"

"Oh not _you _too!" the Heiress vehemently denied, "The match pairing was totally random! This was not some four-year old grudge-match over the food fight first year!" Still, eventually she joined the round of laughs at her own expense, "Honestly… I just can't win with you people…"

"Nope!" Yang clapped her on the back, "And don't ever forget it – or us little people when you're a Dust Company big-shot, kay?"

"Yeah…" The brief fit of mirth drained from Weiss as quickly as it had come, "I'll remember…"

"Weiss…?"  
Ruby didn't get to pursue her concern for her partner's latest bout of melancholy however, as Team JNPR converged on them Nora in the lead, "Don't worry Schnee; I'll get you back for this!" She chirped cheerfully, seemingly fully recovered save for her hair.

"Yeah uh… Remind me _never _to piss you off…" Jaune added nervously.

Weiss brightened a little bit again, "Always a good idea, but don't be so modest, Jaune; we're almost full-fledged Huntsmen and Huntresses now," _And then what?_

"True," Pyrrha allowed with a smile, "But Nora can be..." seven heads turned to watch – and wince, as Nora abruptly deployed Magnhild to swat an errant mosquito, "_intimidating… _But you played to your strengths and came out on top; you should be proud of that."

Weiss smiled, "Thanks Pyrrha,"

The copper-haired spear fighter smiled back, "It's no trouble,"

* * *

One of the many rituals that Teams RWBY and JNPR had developed over their Beacon years was to go out for pizza any time members of their respective teams faced off in any capacity as a sort of 'after-party,' as Yang would put it. Unfortunately, Weiss wasn't feeling terribly festive. Instead, she eased down into the chair by her desk, having told everyone that she'd be along in a few minutes. Weiss had separated herself from the group and returned to the RWBY dorm for some time to think; she needed it.

Her whole time here at Beacon this desk had barely changed – notebooks came and went, a new paperweight occasionally, but nothing important was different than four years ago. Same stack of books, case of Dust crystals – stability was nice. And then there was the same little red book… By now she'd almost written something on every page, and figured she probably had just enough space for the rest of her time at Beacon. It felt like Hell at the time, but she remembered fondly now how this same little red book had been a part of her process of opening up to her teammates and friends – the catalytic influence when Yang had gotten a hold of it as Weiss recalled.

With a sigh, the Schnee Heiress picked up the little book with the finely bound red cover, opening it to flip through the pages. She didn't spend much time on the earliest few dozen entries – they were all too depressing. Here was a page from when she missed her Mother, there was an entry about fuming about the reasons why she – _Weiss – _should have led Team RWBY… She cringed at that one as she passed it; it was as selfish and frustrated as it was desperate and baseless, and not something she cared to dwell on. The pages grew less… unpleasant as she moved along, like when she wrote about how good it felt to have gotten her problems off her chest to Ruby for the first time, or how much of a good time their first winter break had been, it was all so much brighter – until that one entry… More specifically, the page she'd dated, stared at for hours, and ultimately left blank but for the words _'I don't know what I'm supposed to do…' _It had been the only entry for weeks after Ruby's… confession…

Weiss sighed, closing the book, "Still not quite sure…"

In retrospect, they hadn't had much time to hash out there respective feelings about the issue at the time – things had happened very fast after that day, what with the trial and the Grimm horde besieging the city – and looking back on it, they never did sit down and sort it out after all that either beyond agreeing to remain friends – _best friends… _

There was plenty of awkward left to go around – at first especially – but it turned out that time really does heal, or at least sooth all wounds, and gradually they'd grown back into a more comfortable place. Whatever else had changed in the past four years, Weiss was glad to still have Ruby in her life – perhaps it was ironic considering Ruby's nature, but the crimsonette Dunce was another priceless point of stability in her life.

_But how much longer?_

Weiss put her near-spent diary down as she heard the doorknob begin to turn. She wasn't surprised – this sort of thing was just one of the reasons she loved the dolt – and she _did _love her – if not in the way she deserved, "It's okay Ruby, you can come in; no private tragedies today,"

Her cover officially blown, Ruby opened the door all the way and proceeded in, "I guess I still have to work on this whole 'subtlety' thing, huh?"

That got a half smile from Weiss, "Couldn't hurt,"

Ruby moved across the room to take a seat on Blake's bunk; one of the many changes in the past few years had been that they'd eventually gotten _proper _bunk beds in place of the death-traps they'd improvised during their first semester. Yang had initially objected on the grounds that the old beds had 'character' but gravity and a couple of frayed ropes eventually made the decision on team RWBY's behalf – not that it stopped Ruby and Yang from reminiscing about the old sleeping arrangements constantly. Ruby hadn't come to talk about the beds though; that much was obvious.

"Hey Weiss are you… feeling alright?"

Ruby had always been there for her like this, and Weiss liked to think that she returned the favor on such occasions when Ruby needed _her, _but as much as they had remained solid ground for each other through their years at Beacon, they'd both changed too. Ruby had grown a few inches and wore her hair just a little bit longer, while Weiss definitely smiled more than she used to, and had taken to wearing her hair down, but the changes went beyond the superficial. Weiss found herself to have mellowed out somewhat – though no less stern about her priorities – whereas Ruby had generally gotten more confident, well, sort of.

The Heiress let out a long sigh, "It's nothing Ruby, really; it's just… Graduation's coming up on us fast…"

"You nervous? I know I am,"

"I guess you could say that," Weiss admitted, leaning back in her seat – her posture really had suffered during her time here – but it was a small price to pay, "But why are _you _nervous? Isn't this what you've always wanted?"

Ruby shrugged, "Yeah, but it's a huge step in our lives, y'know?"

_A huge step apart… _"Yeah, I know, and I guess that's what bugs me… I mean, things have been a lot better with Dad for the last few years, but I'm gonna miss you all…"

Ruby's face fell, "Mmmm…"

"I guess nothing says that we can't stay in touch but… It just won't be the same…" Weiss continued, "I _should _be happy that I _finally _got to stick it to Nora for that pie and the melon but-,"

"Wow… you really _were _still hung up on that…"

"Shut up! I'm a Schnee! We have long memories!" Weiss defended in a knee-jerk response, but after a moment's pause, both aspiring Huntresses cracked up and burst out laughing.

"I _still _can't believe you took a _pie _to the _face!_"

"It took _forever _to wash the cherry pie filling out of my hair!"

"You smelled nice though…" The laughter stopped, and Ruby looked away, blushing, "I… I'm sorry that was weird…"

"No…" Weiss shook her head, "No, it's alright…"

"Yeah but…" Ruby sighed, "We're _friends – _and I promised you that I'd-,"

Weiss silenced her partner with a finger over her lips, "And what good is a friend who won't forgive you huh? We've made it this far haven't we?" Weiss looked away, "It would be a shame to let something like _that _come between us when we've got so little time left before… before…"

Ruby pulled her into a hug, "Thank you…"

After a moment's hesitation, Weiss returned the embrace, "Don't mention it… but you know what? Why don't we make a promise…"

"Hmm?"

"I, Weiss Schnee, hereby swear to you that I'll keep in touch, no matter what happens, okay?"

Ruby nodded, placing her hands on Weiss's shoulders and stepping away, "And I, Ruby Rose, promise not to cry,"

Weiss smiled sadly, "How about you promise not to miss me too much huh?"

Ruby returned with a slightly melancholic grin of her own, "I can't promise that,"

"Yeah, neither can I," Weiss admitted, "But let's not worry about goodbyes right now; we still have _some _time before graduation,"

"You started it!" Ruby complained, the tension seeping out of the room.

"And now I'm ending it," Weiss retorted with a more heartfelt smile.

"Wanna catch the others and have some pizza?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "I think I can spare the calories this once,"


	3. First Impressions Are Key

**14 Years after 'I'm Not Perfect**

* * *

**Weiss Schnee the Observer**

* * *

"That time again…"

"So it is," Weiss nodded in response to Jaune's remark as she looked over the list of names on her scroll, "This year we have one hundred twenty four initiates… That's a lot of blood if they screw up,"

"They will survive," the aging Headmaster Ozpin interjected, "I wouldn't have accepted them if they did not have my confidence,"

"Fair enough," Weiss allowed, "But there's always the chance that someone with more dreams than brains _faked _their transcripts…"

Jaune Arc scratched the back of his head, "I thought we were done with that…"

"You will not live that one down until the day you die, Arc," Weiss teased, "Although I suppose that you turned out alright. Next in line for Headmaster Jaune; better get your act together,"

"Not everyone needs be as strict as you, _Professor Schnee,_" The Headmaster spoke on Jaune's behalf as they proceeded out of the administration building of the Beacon campus, before adding with a smirk, "Although Miss Schnee does have a point, Mr. Arc; you are going to have to work on projecting authority if you are to sit behind my desk one day,"

"That's what Pyrrha keeps telling me too…" Jaune admitted, with a self-deprecating smile, "I'll just try to keep my foot out of my mouth in front of the students,"

"In truth, Mr. Arc, you've been doing fine with the students," Ozpin shook his head, "But everyone is seventeen among old friends; don't let it bother you too much,"

"Don't worry Jaune; I promise not to embarrass you in front of the first years," Weiss deadpanned as she checked the observation postings for the rest of the staff during the initiation. Jaune, Ozpin, and herself were to be on the cliffs to supervise the launches – although supervise might be a bit charitable of a term – whilst Pyrrha and Professor Peach were positioned to watch the forest temple, and Port, Oobleck, and the rest were scattered to watch the proceedings throughout the forest. Perhaps unnecessary given the fleet of surveillance drones also employed to record the initiation and stream events to the faculty's scrolls, but sometimes people noticed things that machines just didn't. Of course, no one was to intervene, as was the typical policy, but Ozpin felt that it was always better to have as many human eyes following his student's progress as possible, a sentiment which Weiss was given to agree with; machines were immensely helpful, but they couldn't _think _or prioritize which students required closer observation to sort out which partnerships would need the most work to run smoothly. That sort of thing was what really mattered most here; assessing which students could work as a team with total strangers, and which students – not unlike herself as she begrudgingly recalled – would need a little work in that area_. _It was more or less an open secret that everyone was expected to _survive _initiation – in nearly ten years of working at Beacon, Weiss had yet to see a single student _actually die _during the event.

"…isn't that right, Weiss?"

Weiss Schnee blinked a few times before looking up from her scroll and over to Jaune, "Pardon?"

Jaune eyed her dubiously, "I said the weather's perfect for initiation today…"

Weiss glanced up at the clear blue sky as they arrived at the cliff side by the launch pads, the students having yet to arrive, "I suppose it is…"

"Seriously Weiss, you work too hard, all that work isn't good for you," Jaune continued concernedly, "I mean, how do you even balance everything you do here with the Company?"

"I've learned to tune out unnecessary details," Weiss offered, returning her attention to the scroll in her hand, and then, with the faintest hint of a smile she added, "Such as unsolicited weather reports…"

"Oh come on!"

"That, and I have a very good secretary," Weiss finished, beginning to scroll through the student's names she had downloaded to the student roster.

"How _is _Velvet doing at the SDC?" Jaune asked curiously.

"Quite well," Weiss answered absently, "She knows her way around Dust, and she knows what problems require my attention and which ones _don't_. She certainly saves me headaches,"

Indeed, Velvet Scarletina made an excellent secretary. She was organized, well-mannered, and being a Dust-user herself, understood some of the practical realities of the business better than a fair few of the Schnee Dust Companies other desk jockeys. Weiss had brought Velvet on board shortly after her father had placed her in charge of the company's operations in Vale, and the White Fang having been in decline for some time prior, Weiss had been able to persuade her father that the sheepish rabbit Faunus was not a security threat. It didn't hurt that Weiss had taken steps to suffocate any office gossip about Velvet until she'd had the chance to prove that she could do the job better than most. The Schnee Dust company was an efficient machine within which most problems could be sorted out by their appropriate department-heads; Velvet made sure that any which could not be came to Weiss's attention. Today though, Weiss had left explicit instructions to the effect that anything which wasn't _on fire _could wait until tomorrow.

_Gretchen Faust… Rhiannon MacCoul… Helena Troy… We really do need to alphabetize these rosters…_

"Looking for someone specific?" Jaune asked, taking note and pulling up his own scroll, "I could help,"

"No, I just wanted to look over their names again," Weiss lied, _Ami Terasu… Wallace Williams… Pieper Hamelin… _

The Headmaster shot her a knowing look, but said nothing. He knew, of that much Weiss was certain – somehow he always did – but that hardly mattered here; Corolla was _somewhere _on this roster. She'd earned it, and as much as Weiss's feelings were mixed where the girl was concerned, that much couldn't be denied. _There she is…_Graduated Signal Academy third in her class, Corolla Mädchen had a half-dozen supervised live-fire field exercises on her record, all of which resulting in the successful eradication of the designated Grimm targets, and a two-point-four ratio of wins to losses in her sparring and limited tournament-style experience. In theory, she was an excellent fit for Beacon, all that remained now was if the same could be said in practice. In the back of her mind, Weiss was trying to balance her apprehension with her desire for the girl to succeed; this was her dream after all – she'd said as much in most of her letters – and no matter what Weiss thought of Corolla's father, Corolla herself was still blood.

"Anyone of _particular interest?_" The Headmaster asked pointedly, though not accusingly, "As I recall, both Teams RWBY and JNPR occupied a great deal of my attention from initiation forward…"

"I think Pyrrha mentioned something about a younger cousin of hers attending this year," Jaune shrugged beginning to look through his scroll now for the name, "Although I can't remember what her name was off the top of my head… Lia… Lydia maybe…?"

"It should be interesting to see another Nikos in action…" Weiss nodded passively, scrolling back up to the file on Rhiannon MacCoul – the _friend _that Corolla had brought with her to her interview with Ruby – not that she'd actually met or had any connection to _this _girl, _Hell, the only reason you know she exists is because Ruby couldn't keep her schedule straight… Although I suppose Corolla did mention her once or twice in a letter to 'Angela Snow…' _At a glance, MacCoul's file was also fairly impressive; not so good at her academics as Corolla, and she had a citation for deviating from the parameters of a field exercise _once, _but Weiss couldn't help raising an eyebrow at the note attached to the citation claiming that she had felled a juvenile _Deathstalker _in so doing. _Sounds like something Yang would have done… _

Weiss was distracted from her reading again as Ozpin spoke, "And here they come, so be at your best; first impressions are key,"

At this, Weiss Schnee put away her scroll and clasped her hands at the small of her back, readying herself to once again fill some very big shoes. The earliest students were beginning to approach the cliffs as they had been instructed the previous evening, all decked out in their combat gear with their various weapons at the ready. Some dressed colorfully, others were of a more muted style, but one after another they all took their positions on the launching platforms. This really was such a ridiculous practice – launching students off of a cliff and _hoping _that they knew how to land themselves safely; she'd thought as much at her own initiation and she still thought so to this day, but year after year this had been the ritual, and she'd yet to witness anyone need to be scraped off the forest floor, so she went with it. Her role was to maintain order and teach students to slay monsters, not be their nanny.

Here and there as she watched the students take their places at the cliff side she recognized students from the head shot that had been paired with their file on the roster, and in a few of those cases she could put names to the faces, but she was only looking for one of them. When Corolla Mädchen _did _arrive, she, next to Rhiannon MacCoul, took her position off to Weiss's right. She wasn't the first to cast the Schnee Heiress-turned-instructor a recognizing glance, but Corolla was the only one to point her out to a friend.

Weiss sighed, _I do hope she doesn't think she's being subtle… _Weiss overheard something about how MacCoul had 'just missed her' and that 'she really _does _work at Beacon too!' all met with a mixture of shrugs, raised eyebrows, and askance glances from the girl that Corolla was probably hoping to be partnered with, _Don't get your hopes too high kid…_

Considering the broad array of styles and fashions on display before the three members of the Beacon staff in immediate attendance – some considerably less combat practical than others – Corolla and her friend didn't stick out like a _sore thumb, _but they weren't exactly understated either. Corolla had fairly short-cropped blonde hair – _the same shade as Mother's – _a short-sleeved blouse not wholly dissimilar to the top half of any one of the countless martial arts uniforms Weiss had seen on these platforms over the years, matching wrist guards, loose-fitting trousers, and _sandals _of all things on her feet; the blouse was yellow, and everything else was a green not dissimilar to the forest. Weiss assumed the footwear was some consequence of her fighting style – she'd seen stranger fashion choices for initiation before - which at a glance would seem to revolve around the two katana hanging at her left hip, _So she's right-handed… _Curiously though, she also wore what looked to be a quiver of arrows as well.

Next to Corolla, and standing almost six inches taller, Rhiannon MacCoul had longer – though still short – red hair and what looked to be a daring smile as she twirled a spear which seemed to substitute a _drill _for the head. Leather combat boots and gauntlets, green tunic, plaid combat skirt that verged on a kilt. She certainly looked as though she felt herself ready for this.

_Alright… _Weiss took a deep breath as she stepped forward to address the students, _time to see how they do. _

"Ladies and gentlemen, by now you have probably overheard several rumors as regards the assignment of teams…"

* * *

**Corolla Mädchen the Beacon Initiate**

* * *

_Okay Corolla, this is it…_

One by one the platforms launched the students atop of them skyward and into the Emerald forest. With each passing launch Corolla's anticipation built along with her anxiety; Corolla had indeed heard rumors concerning the assignment of teams, but none of them had mentioned being partnered with the _first person _to whom you _made eye contact. _

_No biggie Corolla; Rhiannon's not exactly subtle… You can find her easily enough… _

As the sixth student off to her left was launched, Corolla shook her head for focus and widened her stance, moving her right hand to clutch the hilt of her longer blade, _This is it Corolla! Weiss Schnee, the Headmaster, and that other guy… who was he again? Oh never mind! Time to prove that you've got what it takes to be a Huntress… _

Then it was Rhiannon's turn. With a playful salute and a boisterous laugh, the redheaded spear-fighter was catapulted into the sky, which as far as Corolla was concerned meant just one thing, _You're up next. _

And up she was; about a hundred feet up in the space of a second. She spared a moment to admire the view as she careened through the air – the rapidly receding cliff on which she could still make out the three instructors, the ruins seemingly hewn from the rock face itself, and the ocean of green that sprawled for miles in every direction below – but she only spared the one moment; time – and indeed _gravity – _waited for no one.

Taking a deep breath of the rushing air, Corolla reached to her side, drawing the longer of her katana with her right hand and the slightly shorter one in her left. As she connected the weapons at the bases of the hilts, the linking mechanism kicked in, connecting the two golden swords at the handles. This done, Corolla held the amalgamated weapon to her left hand and reached back with her right to pull one specific arrow from her quiver. This one, a bit thicker than the others, contained a spool of high-tensile strength cord ideal for improvising a zip line – or in this case, a grappling hook. Now holding the grappling arrow in one hand and her bow – Löwenzahn – in the other, Corolla spared another moment to appreciate the forest below as it rapidly rushed up to meet her. _Here I come._

At one hundred yards up, Corolla held up her bow ahead of her. At fifty yards, she used her aura to manifest the bowstring and nock the arrow after securing the back end of the cord wound inside it to her right wrist guard. When she was just above level with the canopy, she took aim and loosed the glittering shaft, cracking a smile as it embedded itself in the trunk of the tree she'd been aiming for. Using the arrow and cord as her tether, Corolla swung, the line catching on a stout branch of the same tree and braced herself for the sudden upswing. Cheering aloud as she swung up and over the branch not just once, but _twice _before landing on top of it on the third go round, Corolla detached her swords from bow-mode once she was sure of her footing and returned them to their sheaths.

"I love you Dad, but I just couldn't do stuff like _that _as a cop…" She chuckled, reaching up to work her arrow loose of the tree and retract the line, "God, that was fun… But now we're in business…"

Corolla took a quick survey of her immediate surroundings but found nothing out of order or of immediate concern. The next step was a little trick with her Semblance that she'd come up with one day in her Grimm Behavior class at Signal. Looking over the same space again, she activated her Semblance, _Let's start with… two days back… _

Two days ago exactly, this particular patch of woods appeared much the same way as it did to Corolla in the present; same untrimmed grass, same trees – although it did seem that the bird's nest that Corolla had seen across the way was new to within the past two days. The only real sign of activity on the forest floor below was a lonesome little rabbit nibbling at the grass at the base of her tree, _Cute, but more importantly, harmless. Fast forward… _And like that, the serene forest landscape played before her eyes in rapid silence. To be fair, she almost wouldn't have noticed the changes at all if it weren't for the preposterous speed with which the bunny hopped off and then the rapid darkening of the forest moments later. Corolla let her vision continue accelerating toward the present, waiting patiently on her tree branch, until she saw something else move approximately twenty-one hours ago. Instinctively her hand went for her sword until she reminded herself to relax because nothing was really there in the here and now. _And even if there was, it's just a dear anyway… _Letting out a little sigh, Corolla completed her flash-survey of the area for the last forty-eight hours and let her vision settle back into the present as she deactivated her Semblance.

"Okay, looks like the immediate vicinity isn't regular Grimm territory," Corolla concluded, finally leaping down from her perch, "Time to find that forest temple thing…"

Keeping a hand on the hilt of her longer sword as she went, Corolla's progress through the forest in a vaguely northerly direction was steady, if not especially quick. Much as she was eager to demonstrate her abilities to the watching professors, discretion was the better part of valor after all, and 'slay the Grimm' wasn't the objective; she had to find a vaguely described 'forest temple' and retrieve some sort of equally nondescript relic. She supposed that she'd know it when she saw it, but for now all she had to go on was _north. _

Off in the distance she could hear the sounds of shots fired, and birds flocking away from the action, but none of it inside of two hundred yards from her. There was an occasional explosion to be heard here and there as well, and Corolla could only speculate as to who had brought the heavy ordinance, but nonetheless she kept moving, quickly and quietly. Perhaps the strangest thing as she went was the music though; Corolla could swear that she was hearing the faint notes of a flute lilting through the forest. It was an eerie tune – what she could make out of it at least – but she resolved to tune it out too; she had a mission to accomplish after all. _Okay… so far so good… haven't seen so much as a glimpse of anyone, but at least – _

"Crap, what was that!?" Corolla ducked into some nearby underbrush at the sound of a low growl. Her grip tightened on the longer of her swords, but she refrained from drawing it, lest she draw undue attention from whatever this beast was. Watching carefully through a small gap in the leaves, Corolla tracked the small pack of Beowolves that lumbered across her path. They were sniffing intently, and not moving off, so it was a safe bet that they had her scent. _Okay, I count one, two, three… four… I've got this…_

Corolla pulled her long blade the first few inches free of its sheath, deliberately giving away her position with the noise. As four bone-masked Grimm faces snapped in her direction at once, Corolla sprang back to a more open position free of the underbrush and took a wide stance, ready to draw out the rest of her blade, her free hand holding the sheath in the ideal position for the smoothest draw. When the first of the Beowolves lunged at her through the greenery, she stepped forward, fully drawing her weapon and transitioning to a stroke in the same motion, hewing the slavering beast shoulder to hip in one blow.

Grasping the one sword's hilt with both hands now, she sidestepped the next Beowolf's claws and pivoted, translating the rotational momentum into a slash which decapitated the second foe, just in time for her to aim her blade behind her and thrust it upward to punch through the third creature's throat. She rolled to avoid a takedown from the final member of the pack, connecting the hilts of both her swords as she did so and pulling an arrow from her quiver. As she stood, she turned, drew, and released the Dust-treated projectile, which incinerated the beast as it embedded itself in the monster's chest.

Relaxing slightly as she moved to retrieve her arrow and wipe it off in the grass, Corolla took a deep breath, "I'd say that's a good start, But let's not have any more surprises…"

Corolla activated her Semblance again, but this time tuned her vision to a scant two minutes into the future. As she took stock of her surroundings, everything appeared exactly the same, which was good; no more immediate threats. While her Semblance really couldn't show her _exactly _what was going to happen under all circumstances, it could show her the future in so far as it was unaffected by _her actions_. Practice had taught her that her foresight was more accurate in the shorter term, but wasn't much good in a swordfight - too much depended on how the opponent reacted to her own moves. In cases like this though, it made for an excellent early warning system. After ten minutes or so of continuing more or less north though, Corolla's patience began to wear thin, and she took back to the treetops to get a better look at the landscape, and maybe spot her destination.

"Oy! C'mon there Sleepyhead!"

Corolla's head turned eastward at the sound of Rhiannon's voice, _Sleepyhead? What!? I'm pretty sure she's not talking to me – she sounds like she's a ways off so… _Corolla's head slumped, "She's probably already found a partner… But who the heck is _Sleepyhead?_"

Still pondering this, Corolla turned to look northward again. At the distant edge of her vision there appeared to be a set of ruins similar to those set into the cliffs occupying a clearing in the distance. Between herself and the destination though, she saw another clearing, in which a sizable pack of Beowolves were converging on a target, "Crap! Somebody's in trouble!" Corolla let her Semblance slip, and saw that, for the moment at least, the clearing in question was actually vacant, "Well, it's on the way…" Corolla rationalized as she once again dropped from the treetops and made her way there, "Alright Corolla, get ready to meet _your _partner in T-minus two minutes…"

As soon as she hit the ground, Corolla bolted. She had almost six hundred yards of uneven forest terrain to cover, and less than two minutes in which to do it. Normally that distance wouldn't be a problem, but having to weave between and around trees, and avoid gnarled roots had a way of slowing her down considerably. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the first howl sound off in the middle distance, and then began hammering all the harder when it was joined by a second, third, and fourth until she lost track of how many she was hearing. _Gotta get there! Gotta catch up! I mean, I'm sure whoever it is they're after can handle themselves in a fight but still… that's a lot of Beowolves… _

'A lot of Beowolves' would prove to be a rather sizable understatement as Corolla soon found that, in her haste to intercept the impending horde, she had neglected to be _quiet _about her progress, and the snarling and barking of a truly sizable pack of Beowolves was closing in on her from the northwest, _Didn't really think this whole 'rushing to the rescue' thing through, did you Corolla? _What was done was done though, and the clearing she'd seen from the treetops was just a stone's throw away now, _May as well finish what you start… _

Corolla stepped around a nearby tree to avoid the foremost edge of the snarling wave of black. Opting to weave through a densely packed stand of trees rather than risk a direct confrontation with the pack in the woods, Corolla slowed her pace just enough to avoid an untimely face-plant with a passing tree trunk, but she was still going plenty fast enough to nick herself on extraneous branches if she wasn't careful. What with the horde barking and slavering Beowolves hot on her tail, that really should have been the least of her worries at the moment, and she _knew that, _but it didn't stop her from throwing up a little extra aura to spare herself from whiplashing branches – mostly for efficiency's sake, but also because they _really stung. _As the open clearing drew closer though, Corolla readied herself for one heck of a fight.

_Okay… it sounds like about… a lot of them back there… Best bet: no really fancy moves, just hack, slash, stab, wash, rinse, repeat… Oh and maybe… _

As she burst out into the clearing Corolla reached over her shoulder and pulled three Frost-Dust treated arrows – distinguishable at a touch by the chilled sensation given off by the Dust - from her quiver, channeled her aura through them and threw them into the ground, effectively freezing the first ten or so feet past the tree line slick. When the first to Beowolves bounded out into the clearing and onto the ice, they slipped, sliding Corolla's way rather than lunging at her, and she neatly relieved them of their top halves with her longer blade. She wasted no time after that in drawing the shorter one in her left hand, connecting the weapons, and drawing three fire arrows to fire in a spread at the oncoming mass of Grimm, which served to ignite the front ranks on impact as the Dust erupted in flames. That was the neat thing about embedding small Dust crystals in one's arrows; they weren't infinitely reusable, but you could get more than one discharge out of the crystals before replacement was necessary.

"Okay Corolla, so far so good; think maybe they've learned their-," Unfortunately, the Archer's soliloquy was interrupted as another Beowolf burst forth from the forest only to stumble and trip on her ice and be rewarded for its tenacity with a blade through the back, "Nope, definitely _haven't _learned their lesson…" For an instant, Corolla activated her Semblance to glance for an instant a few seconds ahead and found that, assuming she did nothing she'd have about another dozen and a half to deal with, "Great… guess things are about to get tight…"

And so they came. The whole pack – or rather, what remained of it – numbering fifteen in all, surged into the open at once, and without fail, fifteen Beowolves – really not terribly bright creatures once whipped into a blood frenzy like this – skidded and fell on their faces. Knowing an opportunity when she saw one, Corolla lunged forward to cut one beast across the throat as it attempted to recover its footing and slid across the ice herself to grab hold of one of her frost arrows protruding from the icy ground nearby. Grabbing hold of the arrow, she channeled more Aura through it to activate the Dust crystal again, generating more ice which rose up from the ground to entomb the nearest four Beowolves before the crystal was finally spent.

_Five down in one maneuver… I think that might be a personal best… _Corolla mused as she recovered her own footing considerably more gracefully than her foes and smoothly skated off of the ice with practiced ease, _footing is key… _

She cut down another Beowolf with a strike from both blades as she slid by, but as she resumed a stable posture on unfrozen ground, the battle was brought to a halt, courtesy of that mysterious flute.

The notes were low and unsettling, vaguely reminiscent of a funeral dirge, but not one Corolla had ever heard. To her initial relief and eventual shock though, as the notes progressed, the Beowolves ceased attempting to pursue her, and instead began to tear at themselves and each other. One Beowolf would tear out another's throat, and still another would disembowel itself. Corolla winced at the macabre spectacle, feeling perhaps just a bit unwell at the sight, _That's just… I mean I know I was fighting them but… This isn't natural…_

When the last of the Beowolves collapsed, so too did the music stop, and Corolla turned to see the source emerging from the forest behind her. Facing her was a fair-skinned girl slightly taller than Corolla herself, with long, dark hair and piercing hazel eyes. A grey fitted tunic with long sleeves and black pants, with lightly armored gauntlets and boots. In her hands was a what appeared to be a cutlass, but as it was lowered from the newcomer's lips, Corolla noted the mouthpiece and holes in the weapon, and realized that this must also be the flute. But of all this, Corolla most noticed the girl's eyes, _Sure, they're hazel now… but I could have sworn… _

"It seems that we are to be partners…" The newcomer spoke, unprompted as her eyes met with Corolla's.

"Um… yeah…" Corolla nodded nervously, "I guess _you _are responsible for… _this?_" she swept a hand to indicate the self-slain Beowolves.

"I am," The girl nodded slightly, unmoved by the scene.

Rationally, Corolla realized that she probably shouldn't be either; dead Beowolves were always a net positive, what did it matter how they got that way? But still… "Well… Nice work… My name's Corolla… Corolla Mädchen,"

The dark-haired girl regarded her appraisingly, "Piper Hamelin,"

**Author's Note: Okay, so there's the next chapter. For the **_**next **_**chapter though, I'm on the fence; I can't decide whether or not to write the other half of Corolla's initiation next, or go back to four years after 'I'm Not Perfect' for the next chapter of that part of the story, so I'm going to open that up to suggestion in the reviews or PMs for those of you who care to leave them. As always, I do appreciate any Favs, Follows, and Reviews. Until next time, have a good one. **


	4. She'll Be Fine

**Author's Note: Okay, so after some consideration, I decided that it made the most sense to finish Corolla's initiation first before anything else, so here we are, but rest assure, to make up for this fact, the next two chapters will be back before RWBY & JNPR's graduation in order to balance things out. In the long run, I've got a vague idea for approximately twenty chapters, but as for exactly how long the story will be, I'm going to play it a little by ear. This chapter on the other hand, turned out a lot longer than I thought that it was going to, and may possibly be the longest one of the series simply because I just kept going while writing it as I tried to make a **_**good **_**stopping point. Hopefully it worked out okay, but you'll have to be the judge. As always, I hope that you enjoy, and I appreciate any feedback you care to leave, so for now, I'll leave you to it. **

* * *

**Corolla Mädchen the Beacon Initiate**

* * *

"So uh… Piper…" Corolla began as she and her newfound partner proceeded through the woods toward their goal, "Do you make a _habit _of playing the flute in a forest packed full of bloodthirsty monsters?" It was meant to be a joke. Sort of.

Piper wasn't laughing – although she did not seem particularly angered either, "It helps me focus," was all the response Corolla got.

"Okay, I can respect that…" Corolla shrugged, pushing aside a branch as she passed, "I take it music's a hobby of yours then?"

"After a fashion,"

"Cool… I like flowers…" Corolla offered, trying to make conversation. Unfortunately, Miss Hamelin didn't bite. _Not really the conversational type I guess… _Corolla thought, resigning herself to a quiet partnership already, _You really should have expected this though; you been spoiled hanging out with Rhiannon all through Signal… I mean, just because you like to talk to your flowers doesn't mean everyone else is a motor-mouth… _Corolla sighed, "Well then… next stop, Forest Temple… I guess…"

"So it is,"

_Now she talks!?_ Corolla's eyebrow twitched, _No, no Corolla, she's right; eyes on the prize…_

Indeed, it seemed that Piper Hamelin was not the most social of comrades, a fact which made the trek through almost half a mile of particularly dense forest beside her a rather awkward experience. Corolla had chosen this particular stretch of woods between the clearing in which they'd met and their destination so as to minimize the potential for Grimm encounters and hopefully thereby shorten their trip, but while they had yet to see hide or pelt of so much as a single Grim since, Corolla had underestimated the difficulty of navigating the terrain. They were making plenty of progress, certainly, but Corolla had hoped to have had their relic by now and been on their merry way back.

Corolla flinched as a small branch whipped back in her face, _Crap! That stings…. _She shot a glance over her shoulder at Piper, who appeared unmoved, _Partner or not, I may as well be alone anyway… Except that at least when I'm actually alone there's no one to see those little screw-ups… _

"Wait," Piper suddenly spoke from behind her, pointing ahead, "The forest thins out ahead,"

At first Corolla shot her partner a perplexed look, but then realization dawned on her as she looked ahead carefully. The way ahead was indeed much less densely packed with trees, but it hadn't grown that way – the crushed stumps and leveled saplings were proof enough of that. Some of the leveled trees and brambles looked like they were starting to rot, but others were quite fresh with leaves still green on the fallen branches. Noting these abnormalities in particular, Corolla tapped her Semblance and began sifting through the recent history of her immediate surroundings, her expression forming a hard line when she reached about twelve hours previously and saw something rather large slither past, not a dozen feet ahead of them.

"Okay, we've got a problem; this is a King Taijus territory…"

"Then we kill it," Piper responded matter-of-factly.

Corolla shot her a quizzical look, "_Or _we _could _sneak around it to avoid unnecessary risks…"

Hamelin was unmoved, "To do so would leave a dangerous foe at our back," the words were reasonable enough, but the way she said it… "Unless you would rather not get your hands dirty?"

"Kinda ironic coming from _you_," Corolla shot back whilst looking for the narrowest patch of open ground to cross before re-entering the thick of the forest, "Seeing as you had those Beowolves slaughter _each other… _How _did _you do that anyway?"

"Ends and means, Miss Mädchen; the result is what matters. You ought not concern yourself,"

_Somehow that doesn't make me feel better… _Corolla sighed, "Alright fine, we'll compromise: we sneak through the woods and kill it if we see it. Sound good?"

"Very well," Piper accepted as Corolla waved for her to follow towards the best place to cross the open ground.

_Right, common ground…. It's like we're a team already… _Corolla thought somewhat sarcastically, _But at least it's something… _

Corolla glanced to the left and the right as she reached the tree line, and seeing nothing, motioned for Piper to cross. While she did indeed cross as signaled, Piper Hamelin apparently had a very different idea about sneaking through the woods than did Corolla; Corolla had in mind to dash quickly across the expanse and get back to cover on the other side as quickly as possible, whereas Piper calmly stepped from the trees on there one side and crossing in a brisk stride rather than a run. Corolla's eyebrow twitched, _Well so much for quick… _Once Piper was across, Corolla darted across as planned, and the two of them slipped back into the woods. Unfortunately it seemed that Piper's approach was the smarter choice after all, as upon reaching the opposite tree line Corolla's foot struck a downed tree branch, resulting in a very loud _snap, _promptly succeeded by a loud, guttural hiss.

"Crap…"

"It seems that we are to do this my way after all," Corolla could practically _hear _the smug smirk on the taller girls face.

"Shut up…" Corolla grumbled, "It _would have worked…_"

"Perhaps," Piper allowed, drawing her sword nice and slow, "Had you been more cautious maybe; always better to be deliberate than hasty,"

"Hey! I am not hasty!"

Piper gestured behind Corolla with her free hand, "I'd wager that King Taiju begs to differ,"

Corolla blinked, then looked over her shoulder, "Huh… you uh… you don't say…" As the white head of the monster reared up to strike, Corolla bolded further into the woods to avoid the incoming strike, "Get into the trees! We can outmaneuver it in the confined space!"

With a silent nod, Piper followed Corolla's lead, and the two of them moved back into the thick of the woods. In mere moments though, the hissing two-headed beast was in pursuit, weaving it's way through the broader gaps in the trees and knocking the smaller ones down wholesale in its wake. _The thing's a lot faster than I was expecting… _

"Hey piper?" Corolla called as she ran ducking under branches and weaving around trees, "Any chance you could play that flute and make it go crazy like those Beowolves? Like, I don't know, have one head eat the other or something!?"

"Yes," the Raven-haired girl answered, more calmly than one might think possible for one running through a dense forest from a monstrous serpent out for one's blood, "but not yet,"

"What do you mean _'not yet'!?_" Corolla shouted back exasperatedly.

"I mean precisely what I said, Miss Mädchen," Piper shot back tersely.

_Okay then…_ Corolla fumed, _So option one: keep running until creepy flute girl decides she's 'ready.' Option two… _Corolla pulled the first few inches of Löwenzahn's longer half a few inches free of its sheath and veered off to double back, _Take advantage of your smaller size to attack… _

As she doubled back, Corolla gave the monster's leading head a wide berth, waiting until the head had passed before she darted back between the trees to make a pass at its slithering abdomen. It was a big one, with a girth approaching four feet and nearly a hundred feet long, and given that size, it was also rather fast; the serpent's black half – presently leading – had nearly passed her position already. Wasting no further time on idle observation, Corolla closed the space between herself and the writhing mass of scales and muscle, lunging over its serpentine form and drawing her sword midair, cutting a deep gash in the beast's body just a yard or so past where the white half began. The monstrosity lurched to a stop as the white section reared up and bellowed in agony. Her first instinct was to bolt when the tailing half of the beast thrashed, leveling dozens of trees in an attempt to crush it's assailant, but reason dictated that the safest place to be – for the moment at least – was where the two halves joined and neither was in full control, so rather than run, she made for the juncture of the two halves of the snake, sword at the ready. Reaching her destination, she swung her blade in a broad upward arc, hewing into the great serpent's flesh as she did so. Needless to say, both ends of the monster took exception to that.

"Hey uh, Piper!?" Corolla shouted as the two heads both reared up to strike at her, "A little help?" What she got in answer was the howls of Beowolves nearby; the Taiju's bellowing had drawn their attention, "Great… she's probably busy…"

As if to punctuate the assumption, the notes of Piper's flute began to emanate from nearby as the two heads of the King Taiju raced down to claim their prey, but Corolla hadn't the time to ponder _how exactly _playing a flute benefited Piper in a combat scenario. Indeed much more pressing on her mind was the matter of timing, as she managed to dive into a roll and out of the way of either tremendous Grimm head as they both impacted the ground where she'd been standing. Seeing an opportunity, she rushed the black head as it reeled from the effects of the failed impact, jumped, and plunged her sword into the back of the beast's skull. Unfortunately the beast's black half did not suddenly fall limp as intended.

_Dammit! Missed the spinal column! _Before she could make another attempt though, the archer was force to choose between abandoning her weapon or holding on for dear life as the creature began to flail. She chose the latter option, clinging desperately to the hilt of her sword as the Taiju reared up and slammed itself back down over and over again, and then began to race through the woods heedlessly knocking down trees in an attempt to scrape her off on one of the branches, _Think Corolla! This probably looks bad but there's got to be some way to turn this around! Probably… _

As she ducked a low-hanging bough racing by her, Corolla noted that, in its efforts to dislodge her, the monster was hastening in the general direction of the forest temple, which in turn gave her an idea. Letting go of the hilt of her embedded sword with her left hand only, Corolla drew her shorter blade and promptly used it to stab the black head through its left eye. Then, after a _very careful _swap of hands, she did the same with the right eye, in effect blinding the serpent's leading half.

_Okay, so now for the risky part… _

Glancing upward, she could see the broad clearing in which the 'forest temple' dominated about a hundred yards off on the left. After a brief pause to _pray _that this would work, Corolla drove the short blade into the right side of the Serpent's face, eliciting another bellowing roar and a bucking jerk that nearly threw her from her slippery seat at the back of its skull. Corolla managed to hold on though, and her fortitude was rewarded when the beast veered left as intended, and she removed the smaller weapon from its flesh when it faced _exactly _where she wanted it to go. This much achieve, she couldn't help reveling in the sheer _absurdity _of it all; the sort of thing was something she would've thought _Rhiannon _might try, but Corolla? Much too sensible for that sort of nonsense – at least that was how she thought of herself until now – but once she got past the angry hissing, occasional extraneous little tree branches smacking her in the face, and the very rational fear for life and limb, she couldn't _really _deny that, on some fundamental level, _she was having fun. _

"Oh _hell yes!_" she cheered as she rapidly approached her destination, "Hey Piper! If you can hear me, feel _free _to hitch a ride!"

Corolla received no response to her invitation though – not that she'd been expecting one- even assuming that Piper had heard her in the first place, what with her emphasis on _'not being hasty' _riding on a King Taiju's back _probably wasn't her thing… _and viscerally _awesome _though it was, Corolla was also forced to admit that after about two minutes of it she was starting to feel nauseous… Fortunately enough, her opportunity to dismount her rampaging steed was rapidly approaching as the edge of the forest rushed up to meet her, only to present her with a whole new problem. Between Corolla and the forest temple a stone's throw away – stood quite possibly the _biggest _girl she'd ever seen rearing up to swing what was _definitely _the biggest sword she'd ever seen, and standing straight in their path.

_Way to crash into hello! _

All at once, Corolla pulled her long blade free of the beast and dove off into the grass to her right connecting the blades mid-air and rolling into a kneeling positon as she drew an arrow – not paying particular attention to the variety at the present – to draw and take aim at the serpent now barreling down on her fellow student. It seemed that her assistance was not required however, as in one motion the giant of a girl stepped to the side, swinging her Zweihander to catch in the Serpent's gaping maw. The beast's sheer momentum carried it onward regardless, sealing its own fate; its bulk split down the middle by the huge blade down several yards of the serpent before it finally lurched to a stop.

"Holy crap…" Corolla gaped at the display, bow still drawn; the mountain of a huntress to bee was still standing in place, calmly pulling her huge weapon free and casually swinging it to flick off the blood. Corolla's awe did not distract her when the White head reared itself and bellowed its rage. Without a second thought, she adjusted her aim and loosed the arrow, allowing herself a satisfied half smile as the projectile impacted and spawned a thick casing of ice around the monster's jaw, "Direct hit…" A further sound caught Corolla's attention amidst all the chaos though, as the telltale rushing noise, followed by the clank of a new slug being chambered sounded opposite the black heap of dead Grimm and a heavy round punched through the underside of the white head's skull, "Rhiannon!"

As the white head came thundering to the ground, disorientated but not quite dead, Rhiannon MacCoul did indeed vault atop the sprawled mass of the dying Grimm, running full tilt for the white head and spinning up the drill end of her spear so as to drive it through the base of the monster's skull upon arrival. This done, the cheerful redhead wiped a little sweat from her brow and turned Corolla's way, "Aye! I thought I 'eard ye over there!" She slid down the dead serpent's side, sparing a glance over to the towering swordswoman off to her left, "Looks like ye've already met Sleepyhead too!"

Corolla cocked her head as she got to her feet, looking back to the huge sword-wielder – presently bracing against the cross-guard of her Zweihander with the last few inches of the blade embedded in the ground, "_Sleepyhead?_ Is she your partner?"

"Aye! 'At she is," Rhiannon gave her new partner a fond punch on the shoulder, "'Er name's Siggy… er… Shiny-whatever…?"

The massive girl yawned, her eyes fluttering open – Corolla had only then noticed that they had been closed, "My name is…." Another yawn, "Sieglinde Schönheitschlafen…" and her eyes fluttered shut again.

"Eh, like I said; _Shiny-somethin'-er-other…_" Rhiannon waved dismissively, "And ain't she a big'n?"

Corolla liked to think she was of about average height – maybe a _little _on the short side – but Sieglinde Schönheitschlafen _towered _over her. She had to be six feet easy, with pale green eyes – at least that's what Corolla thought she saw in the brief moment that they were open - and long blonde hair a few shades lighter than Corolla's own. Her attire was generally simple in nature – tunic, trousers, and boots – all in a lightish shade of purple. On top of the rather simple ensemble was another matter, for the mountainous girl didn't exactly pack light in the armor department. Heavy steel bracers, grieves, shoulder guards, and what looked to be a rather heavy breastplate were all in evidence, as well as a series of vaguely grenade-shaped devices hanging from a belt about her back.

"Um… nice to meet you?" Corolla offered a hand to shake, and received only a drowsy affirmative grunt in response. Perhaps Corolla was imagining it, but the giant of a girl sounded rather mousy for her sheer size, "I'm Corolla… I'm a friend of Rhiannon's…"

"Mhm…'

Corolla shot Rhiannon a raised eyebrow, "You _sure _this is the same girl who just split a King Taiju _in half?_"

"Aye," Rhiannon cracked a broad smile, "But she was asleepin' at the time…"

Corolla blinked, "What?"

"Gotta be 'er Semblance er somethin," Rhiannon conjectured, "She's kinda a scaredy cat with er wits about her… but _damn _can she fight in 'er sleep! I mean, I know _I _always joke 'bout that sorta thing, but _she's _the real deal!"

Corolla blinked again, "Yeah… I'd say that's uh… that's pretty evident..." Corolla chuckled, "I wish _I _could fight in my _sleep_…"

"Only way she can is the way it seems," Rhiannon added, "Too scared elsewise…" Rhiannon scratched the back of her head briefly before asking, "So… ye got a partner yet? Or ye make yer way ere by yer lonesome?"

"She does,"

Corolla jumped at the sudden sound of Piper Hamelin's voice from just over her shoulder, "Gah! Piper! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"You'd be dead had I meant you harm, Miss Mädchen," the raven-haired girl stated matter-of-factly before moving on into a slight bow to Rhiannon, "I am Piper Hamelin, and what am I to call you?"

It was the spear maiden's turn to shoot the archer a raised eyebrow, "She always this icy?"

Corolla just shrugged with a defeated expression.

Glancing back the newcomer's way, Rhiannon finally answered, "Eh, m'name's Rhiannon; this here's Siggy,"

Piper cast the huge, barely –if at all – conscious swordswoman an appraising look, "I see…"

"Well, now that _that's _out of the way..." Corolla interjected, somewhat inexplicably nervous, "I'd say that we all have artifacts to retrieve – unless you two got yours already?"

"Nah, we just got ere fore ye did – and then a bloody King Taiju comes barrelin' outta the woods – Gotta say Corolla, I didn't think that was yer style,"

"It isn't…" Corolla called over as she went to retrieve the arrow embedded in the white head of the serpent which had fell to earth a few yards away, "Just had to uh…" She grunted as she yanked the shaft free of the scale it had punctured, "To check _Grimm rodeo _off my bucket list…"

"Ah, ye should'a gone fer a Borbatusk; probably easier,"

"I'll remember that next time…" Corolla responded dryly as she returned and the four of them proceeded for the ruins just ahead.

As they entered the remains of what had probably once been a far more imposing structure, the four huntresses-to-be were presented with a space around whose edges could be seen dozens of pedestals, some empty and signaling that they were not the first to arrive, but more as yet held what appeared to be playing cards. There wasn't much else to be said of the supposed 'temple' all told; a ring of stone pillars supporting overhead slabs of granite forming a circle about the premises, and a few extraneous and partially crumbled heaps of stone worn down with age. For a moment, Corolla was tempted to use her Semblance to look back as far as she could to maybe, _just maybe, _see what the place had looked like in its hay day, but she dismissed the thought out of hand when she considered that looking further than a week backward was extremely taxing – let alone God-only-knows how many years since the temple had fallen into disrepair. All of those musings came to an end however, when Corolla heard Dust discharges off in the distance.

"Sounds like we're about to have company," Corolla remarked as she looked for the best way to get on top of the structure before settling on a broken column to her left, "Piper, grab a card; I'm gonna go see who's coming and what they've got tailing them,"

Without waiting for a response, Corolla made for the column, and jumping on top of that she then used the extra height to allow herself to leap to the stone slab above, as it was the best vantage point in the area. Once there, she scanned the surrounding area until her eyes snapped in the direction from which came the sounds of yet more howling Beowolves. Less than two hundred yards south of their position she could see red-orange and blue Dust discharges in another nearby glade, and her attention snapped to the sources: two of their fellow initiates, locked in combat with not _Beowolves_, but rather a _pair _of Ursa Major. Corolla recognized the pair from what little meeting and greeting she'd attempted the previous night – they were apparently from Vacuo and their names were Ami Terasu and Tsuki Yomikawa if memory served – but what mattered more at the moment was that, even if they could handle the two gargantuan Ursai with which they were presently faced, they were about to be mobbed.

"Hey!" Corolla shouted down to her own companions below, "We've got too other students due south who need a hand with some _really big Ursai, _and Beowolves incoming – lots, by the sound of it – any ideas?"

"Aye!" Rhiannon cheered, fingering the trigger for the gauss rifle built into the shaft of her spear, "I say we-,"

"Leave them,"

"_What?_" Corolla and Rhiannon both turn to stare in disbelief at the completely straight-faced Piper Hamelin as she collected one of the playing cards from the pedestal nearest her, and then collected the next to hand to Rhiannon.

"Our objective is met; we should return,"

Corolla drew her weapons and linked them at the hilts for her bow, "Okay, any plans that _don't _involve leaving our classmates _to die?_ They could be _our teammates Piper! Leaving them to their fate is out of the question!" _

"…Huh? Wo's getting left to…" Sieglinde finally spoke up again, no longer quite entirely dead on her feet, "What's going on…?"

"_No one _is getting left," Corolla stated defiantly, her eyes locked with Piper's below, "We didn't come here so we could learn to leave people to die,"

Piper returned Corolla's judgmental glare with an unimpressed look of her own, "Very well Miss Mädchen, then draw one of your arrows and fire skyward; do make sure to make a spectacle of its detonation though,"

Corolla blinked, "_What? _But shouldn't I try to, I don't know, _kill _the Grimm attacking them-?"

"Then they will be just as dead by a different set of claws," Piper flatly rejected, coming up to level ground with Corolla to survey the situation for herself, "Just as I said, and they _might _have a chance,"

Corolla groaned, not much liking the idea of following Piper's lead given what her _first choice _had been, but nonetheless drew a fire arrow and obeyed. Pouring enough Aura into the crystal to fully expend it as she loosed the shaft almost straight up, Corolla delayed the actual detonation until it was a solid hundred feet overhead, at which point the nigh-invisible projectile erupted in a bright and _loud _conflagration most likely audible for miles. _How's that for a 'spectacle?'_

"Good," Piper nodded, although she did not sound overly impressed, "Now things are about to get… messy…" she looked down to Rhiannon and Sieglinde, still on ground level, "Brace yourselves,"

"Eh-?"

Rhiannon's question was suddenly cut off by the nightmarish sound of hundreds of Beowolves howling in unison, emanating from all directions. Perhaps it was Corolla's imagination, but the forest seemed to shake at the sound, but as she spared another look toward the clearing in which she'd seen the Ursai and her fellow initiates, she noted with some relief that, while the Ursai were still looking up at the fading explosion in the sky, Terasu and Yomikawa were nowhere to be seen, _Looks like they got the hint… That's a relief… _then more Grimm calls, _Well except for that… _

"Nice _'plan' _Piper, we're about to be mobbed now ourselves…"

"You wanted to rescue them Miss Mädchen," Piper responded evenly, "None of us could have reached them in time, thus, this is the price of your little rescue; I suggest you make ready,"

_Unbelievable! She just proposed leaving other people to die, and now we're about to be in the middle of a freaking horde, and she's still all stone cold about it? Is her heart made of granite or something? _Casting her reservations aside for the moment, Corolla drew another arrow to place in the ready position, "You heard her Rhiannon; we're about to have company!"

"Aye, but er…"

Corolla glanced down to be met with a sight that almost made her laugh, even despite the circumstances – Sieglinde, who stood a full six inches _taller _than Rhiannon, appeared to be attempting to hide behind her, "Uh… Sieglinde…"

"Told ye she was a scaredy cat…" Rhiannon shrugged.

"Th-that just… i-it sounds l-like a lot of… a lot of…" the mousy giant stammered out.

"Oh certainly," It was Piper who responded in her same cold an level tone, "probably hundreds of Beowolves – not to mention at least two Ursai Major,"

Sieglinde began to hyperventilate of all things, "R-really?"

"Oh yes; we probably won't survive,"

"W-we… _won't-?_" And like that the huge girl's body went slack and she fell backward, to just barely be caught by a startled Rhiannon.

"Eh! The hell was that for?" she accused.

"You did say that she could only fight in her sleep, correct?" Piper shot back.

"Well… ya, but-,"

"She is now _asleep, _is she not?"

"Poor lass _fainted-!_"

"Psychosomatic stress-induced narcolepsy," Hamelin corrected, "It is the only explanation for her having made it here in one piece, assuming what you say about her both being a coward and fighting in her sleep,"

"Well… when ye put it like _that-,_" Rhiannon was cut off as Sieglinde's muscles tensed and she stood herself back up, looking now for all the world to be awake, save that her eyes were heavily lidded – barely open at all really, "Bloody hell… it worked…"

Piper nodded, "Now, if you wouldn't mind, guide Miss Schönheitschlafen about front and prepare yourselves; we're about to be hit," She turned to Corolla, "Are _you _ready?" Corolla could hear the unspoken corollary to the question as plain as if it had actually been voiced, _because what happens next is on you. _

Corolla nodded, activating her Semblance to look thirty seconds forward and surveying the area below afresh, "Yes, _Piper_," She gestured south by southwest as she saw the figures of Ami and Tsuki emerge from the trees, "Our peers will make it here in less than a minute…" She accelerated her view until the first Grimm broke into view behind them, "Followed by an advance party from a pursuing pack of Beowolves about fifteen seconds later…" she looked a bit further forward in the same direction until she saw trees being knocked down as the lumbering Ursai Major could be seen approaching as well, "After that we have less than a minute before those Ursai are gonna be a problem, plus, God only knows how many Beowolves will have showed up…" She turned to face Piper again, "How many of them can you um… mind control like you did earlier?"

It was weird to watch Piper respond to the question, as Corolla hadn't yet deactivated her Semblance, and was seeing Piper raising her flute to her lips, even as she was _hearing _her dismissive and frustratingly condescending answer, "Mind control? Don't be ridiculous; just a little suggestion. As for how many… not enough, so do be ready with that bow,"

Corolla groaned, but nonetheless raised her bow to take aim where the first Beowolves would emerge, deactivating her Semblance in time to see, as predicted, Ami Terasu and Tsuki Yomikawa come running into the open, _Right there then… _She drew a fire arrow, waiting to time it just right, _Distance, about thirty-five yards… so time to target at full draw would be… shy of two seconds… _She activated her Semblance again, tuning it three seconds forward, and drew back her aura-bowstring. At the sight of the first Beowolf, she counted off one second, exhaled, and released. Blinking her vision back to the present, she watched her arrow impact its target full in the shoulder and then explode, taking the three other Grimm in close proximity with it. _Good shooting Corolla; keep it up… _

The most immediate threat dealt with, Corolla looked down to greet the latest human arrivals, "Hi there! Ami and Tsuki, right?"

The taller of the two – Ami – nodded and answered between deep breaths, "Yeah… Corolla, right?"

"That's m'name," Corolla nodded, doing a humorous little salute just to spite the circumstances, "Why don't you two grab your card and get back out here to back us up; things are about to get hairy…"

"No argument here,"

At the sound of another roar – signaling the two Ursai Major barreling through the woods – the brief conversation broke and Corolla re-strung her bow with a frost arrow this time. As she drew this one though, the dam broke, and out from the forest in nearly every direction poured Beowolves and the occasional minor Ursa, "I… think we might be in trouble…"

While she remained certain that helping her peers out had been the _right _decision, Corolla couldn't help but wonder if the fireworks display that Piper had suggested had been the best idea after all, but what was done was done, and she didn't have a better idea, so she loosed the arrow at the nearest cluster of black pelt and bone masks whilst Piper raised her flute to play in real time now. As the first notes drifted out on the breeze, Corolla recognized the tune as that eerily depressing piece that Piper had favored earlier, and like before, nearby Grimm began to fall upon each other like squabbling children. _Just… more blood… _

As she reached over her shoulder to take another arrow, Corolla called down to Ami again, who was presently inside the temple area, "So… what kinda ordinance do you have with you?"

Having selected their card, Ami produced a three-segmented staff with a curved blade on either end, and Tsuki hastened to join Piper and Corolla on their elevated position, what appeared to be a bull-pup assault rifle with a downward pointing blade below the muzzle held at the ready, "Purified burn Dust," Ami answered for herself before gesturing up to her partner, "Tsuki favors frost rounds, but both of us can handle melee combat if it comes to that,"

Corolla tried very hard not to notice the way Piper rolled her eyes as she played, "Trust me; it _will. _Those two huge Ursai followed you,"

Ami fixed the segments of her staff into one contiguous shaft, "So they have… Two of them at once was just a bit much…"

"Oy! Less yackin' more shootin'!" Rhiannon shouted back to them as she revved up the drill on the head of her spear, "'Cause now we got Two big Ursai _and _a horde o' angry pups!"

"Right," Corolla nodded, drawing back another arrow, "Tsuki, you and I provide covering fire, Piper, keep at… _whatever it is you're doing…_" Corolla winced as she saw one Beowolf tear another's head off, _that's just not natural… _"Ami, Rhiannon and Sieglinde-," she winced _again _as Sieglinde – whom Corolla still wasn't sure she believed to be fighting in her sleep – hewed down three Beowolves in one swing, "Just… keep it up…" _And that goes double for you Corolla; make every shot count and go for the full yield on the detonations. You can always make more arrows…_  
Corolla's next arrow detonated amidst a group bearing down on Rhiannon, scattering the pack and earning her a little breathing room. The next shot connected with the lead Beowolf in a pack flanking Sieglinde from the right. Tsuki, though apparently not much of a talker, had taken to one knee and was primarily covering Ami with burst after burst of freezing Dust rounds as her partner below prepared slower, if also considerably more powerful barrages of Burn Dust, so Corolla decided to focus on covering Sieglinde and Rhiannon, leaving alone the writhing mass of Grimm to the far left which gradually extinguished _itself _at Piper's behest. In fairness though, they didn't seem to need all that much help until the two Ursai Major smashed their way out of the forest roaring and slashing.

Rhiannon let loose another heavy slug from her gauss rifle, splattering several Beowolves before taking the nearest monster-Ursa in the knee, but while she reloaded, she'd be vulnerable, so Corolla's next target was the minor Ursa approaching from Rhiannon's left. The beast promptly exploded when stuck by the fire arrow, and Corolla had drawn another before the flames had gone out, this time aiming for the wounded Ursa Major, letting the Dust-tipped missile fly, and freezing the monster's snarling head. Nonetheless the beast continued to thrash madly – that is, until the sleepy giant intervened, catching Corolla's eye.

The drowsy colossus of a young woman first cleared her immediate surroundings by taking a heavy step forward and swinging her tremendous blade in a broad lateral arc, a plume of fire spewing from the weapon as she did so. What Grimm weren't hewn down were incinerated within a five yard radius, but what really impressed Corolla came next. Sieglinde flipped the blade back, balancing the edge on the armor plates on her shoulder, then took one of the vaguely grenade-shaped devices from her back and fitted it to the Zweihander's pommel before squeezing what Corolla could _just _make out as a trigger on the cross-guard. With a discharge of smoke from her blade the same way the Dust had gone previously, the grenade ignited, racing away to impact the Ursa Major's frozen head and shattering it utterly, causing it to finally fall limp.

"Damn…"

Even Rhiannon paused for a moment to gape at her partner's feet, even whilst the sleeping berserker simply moved into the next devastating swing with no acknowledgement of her own feat as though on auto-pilot before cracking an ear-to-ear grin and shouting, "Bloody _awesome _but I'll do ye one better!"

Corolla couldn't resist the urge to Facepalm; maybe it stemmed from Rhiannon's being the elder sister to _fifteen _brothers, but the girl did not like to be shown up. Rhiannon charged through the disoriented cluster of Beowolves between her and the other Ursa Major, leading with the drill end of her spear to make giblets of anything that got in her way until she reached the towering beast. It made a swipe at her, she dove under its arm, nicking it with the end of her spear as she went before shutting the drill off and using her spear to vault onto the beast's spiny back. She grabbed hold of the spikes with her free hand for stability as she worked her way to the thrashing monster's shoulders. Once there, she positioned the butt of her spear – which also housed the muzzle of her gauss rifle – at the base of the monster's skull and fired. The beast let out a wretched gurgling as its knees buckled, and as it collapsed, a laughing Rhiannon rolled down from its horribly mangled head and back into the fray, her pride officially satisfied.

_Show off… _Corolla thought good-naturedly as she loosed another arrow, _Although it was pretty awesome… Wait… why is that snarling so- CRAP!_

Corolla ducked just barely in time to avoid being tackled from behind by a Beowolf lunging up from one of the broken columns below. Fortunately that particular slavering brut tumbled right back over the ledge and down to the ground, but it wasn't the only one of its kind to have the same idea. Seeing nearly a dozen of the things prowling about below in the temple area, Corolla made the snap decision to separate her bow back into sword form and dash over to where the next beast was trying to clamber up to their level. A quick slash from each blade swiftly put a stop to that, but a more dedicated examination showed that they were about to be in trouble; on the other side of the ring of stone pylons that comprised the forest temple Beowolves were mounting the structure unimpeded, and no one of the gaps between the stones was too broad for them to leap across.

_Calm down Corolla; they're just Beowolves… They just want to disembowel you is all… _She bit her lip as she thought, _Okay, Piper's busy with that creepy tune of hers and… _She glanced back over to the area on which Piper was apparently dealing with, and found that it was indeed still a Grimm-on-Grimm bloodbath with several dozen of the creatures – whether Piper was influencing all of them or just a portion Corolla didn't know, _So we'll just have to leave Piper to it, nice as it would be to have another sword in the mix… Tsuki's covering Ami and Rhiannon and Sieglinde have their hands full… looks like this is all you… _

Without further pause for thought, Corolla ran the perimeter for the raised ring of stone until she reached the place where the Beowolves were mounting the structure. Skidding to a halt at the end, she slashed again with both blades, cutting both Beowolves presently attempting to climb down so that they fell and lay motionless upon the ground. Her presence above incited the throng below to greater aggression though, and soon they were climbing over each other and their own dead trying to swat at her, springing up to gain purchase on the ancient stone, only to be cut down from their grasping perches or hacked out of the air. Unfortunately Corolla's success meant the stack of Grimm corpses below got higher, and more of them managed to clamber atop the macabre heap to make attempts of their own. What was more, out of the corner of her eye Corolla saw yet more Beowolves massing by the other side near the others. In a brief moment of respite on her side, Corolla reached for another fire arrow in her quiver, used her aura to activate the Dust crystal, and threw the deadly projectile like a small javelin at the beasts gathering on the opposite side. The shaft didn't strike its target very hard, but the subsequent detonation did its job, scattering the Grimm.

"Rhiannon! You need to cover Ami! Tsuki, can you cover Piper please? I'm kinda-," She broke off to drive her blade between the ribs of a Beowolf that had managed to leap and land on its feet beside her, "I'm kinda tied up here!"

Without a word, the gunner across the way nodded and did as instructed, activating a mechanism in her weapon that caused the stock to detach but for the length of chain that connected it to the rest of the weapon, which compressed around the barrel to streamline it and allow for use as a grip. The result was a rather impressive chain-sickle which she swung at the end of said chain to decapitate the nearest Grimm below Piper and herself, and then swung again to divest another of its right arm and send it sprawling. Seeing that Piper was in good hands, Corolla set aside the bitter irony that they would have left Tsuki in the forest had Piper had _her way _and reconnected her swords so she had a free hand to reach back and take quick stock of what arrows she had left, never taking her eyes off the throng below.

_Let's see… feels like… half a dozen fire… nine ice… all the lightning… _She pulled one of the fire arrows and _threw it _down into the Grimm below her to much the same effect as before, _Make that five fire… _But it looked like it was going to be enough; there were still a lot of Beowolves in the area, but they had stopped coming, and the sheer _size _of the horde was gradually diminishing. _We've got this. _

Corolla drew two of her remaining fire arrows at ones to fire into and level the remnants of the pack snapping at her feet, then pulled a lightning to thin the group swiping at Piper and Tsuki. Now switching to ice, she loosed shaft after shaft into the most densely packed groups of Grimm left so as to freeze two and three at a time rather than one even as Rhiannon's lance and Sieglinde's greatsword mowed them down by threes and fours with blade, drill, rifle, and Dust. As the mass thinned, Piper finally lowered her flute, a smug smirk on her lips as the last seven or so Beowolves standing from the mass of carnage she'd somehow wrought charged headlong into the blades of Ami's two-sided Naginata.

"It seems I was wrong, Miss Mädchen," Piper admitted, an unsettling smile faintly in evidence on her lips, "Perhaps aiding them was not such a bad idea,"

Corolla sheathed her weapons and let her arms falls slack as Sieglinde hewed down the last of the Beowolves with one final swing, "And _you _thought we should leave them," she laughed, maybe just a little bit bitterly as she made a sweeping gesture with her arm, "We would have missed… missed all the fun…"

Piper sheathed her unbloodied cutlass as Tsuki Yomikawa re-collapsed her chain-sickle into rifle form, "So we would have…"

_I can't tell if she doesn't give a crap or if she's honestly changed her mind… _Corolla shot her a searching look from across the way, but found nothing to determine one way or the other, "Well… at least _that _mess is over; best we made it back-,"

"Eh! Can a lass get a hand o'er here!?" Rhiannon interrupted as she shouted over. Corolla nearly cracked up as she saw Rhiannon struggling to hold Sieglinde up, she having apparently collapsed into a less… combat effective state of slumber with the hostilities concluded, "Siggy 'ere's kinda heavy!"

* * *

**Weiss Schnee the Apprehensive**

* * *

"Corolla Mädchen, Piper Hamelin, Rhiannon MacCoul, and Sieglinde Schönheitschlafen; you have retrieved the King and Queen of Diamonds, and shall henceforth work together as team CPRS, led by… Corolla Mädchen," Was the first and only part of the post-initiation assembly to which Weiss Schnee paid any attention. She was much too busy looking over the transcripts of Corolla's teammates to care. There would be plenty of time to memorize the other students' names and teams later, but having a personal stock in this one had a way of consuming her attention.

_Rhiannon MacCoul is already her best friend, so we shouldn't have problems there… Schönheitschlafen is from Atlas… decent academics and a good battlefield record, although that narcolepsy business worries me… _Weiss shook her head still not wholly sure that she believed it. Nevertheless, she moved on to the last member, and Corolla's actual partner: _Piper Hamelin… _

As she scanned the girl's transcript though, the Schnee heiress's brow furrowed. _That field record… excellent… hell, if I didn't know better I'd say it was forged but… that's some Semblance she's got I suppose… Still that doesn't explain… _Piper Hamelin's field record was in fact one of the best she'd ever seen, but curiously, the entry concerning Hamelin's sparring and tournament-style record claimed that she had either lost or forfeited every match she'd ever fought, a fact which, bizarre as it was, lent some credibility to her field record, _If she was going to fake a transcript, you'd think she'd be more balanced about it… _

"Miss Schnee…" It was Ozpin, addressing her privately; the students had all begun to file from the auditorium already, "I appreciate your work ethic, but I'd say we've all done enough for one day; the students' transcripts can wait,"

Weiss sighed, closing her scroll, "Alright sir…"

He nodded approvingly, "Now if memory serves, I do believe that you go for drinks with Mr. and Mrs. Arc every year after initiation; I for one see no reason why this year should be any different,"

"Sir…"

The aging Headmaster held up a hand for silence, "I've been at this a long time, Miss Schnee, and I didn't _get here _in the first place by being daft; Miss Mädchen will do just fine, so _relax, Angela Snow..._"

Weiss massaged her temples to alleviate the onset of a headache, "Alright, alright, I'll do it, just… I don't know… I suppose I could do to relax more…"

Ozpin nodded, cracking a wry smile as he took a sip of his coffee, "And that, Miss Schnee, is what the drinks are for; have an extra one for me, hmm?"

Weiss couldn't help a chuckle, "Right. Here's to another… _interesting year?_"

"The best kind," Ozpin replied, raising his mug to it as he too took his leave of the auditorium, leaving Weiss now alone in the vast space, remembering her own time on that stage over a decade ago.

Somehow though, she could never escape the feeling that her initiation – Team RWBY, that business with Cinder Fall and the White Fang, all of it – hadn't been years ago, but rather just yesterday. Weiss had never been much for nostalgia though, not before Beacon anyway, but it seemed that all her good memories – well, most of them – came after coming here. She reflected that they'd all been through a lot, and when all was said and done, Teams RWBY and JNPR had for the most part gone their separate ways. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss herself all took positions at Beacon, it was true, but the three of them didn't see much of the others very often. Ruby had her little cottage in that quiet little hamlet in northern Vale, living out her dream of being a huntress like she'd always wanted, and Ren and Nora spent most of their time in the field as well – it was a good thing he loved her, because the poor guy had to marry her too; he really hadn't much choice in the matter when you got right down to it. Blake had dabbled in Faunus advocacy for a while after graduating, but Weiss herself was in a better position to effect the sort of changes Blake wanted after taking up her position in the Company on top of teaching – within Vale at least – and so the two had collaborated on a number of issues, but still saw each other rarely in a personal capacity, save at Team RWBY's monthly 'reunions.' Finally, Yang was, well... Yang… Last Weiss had heard, Yang had bought out some club in what used to be a seedy part of Vale – 'Cause Huntresses need a good party now and then too" – was the line she'd used when Weiss had questioned her on the subject, eyebrow raised. Well, Weiss Schnee wasn't much for parties, but the sentiment held true enough at least – Weiss just preferred a little vodka now and again.

She let out another sigh, "He's right. She'll be fine…"

**Author's Note: Okay, so before we conclude I just want to mention a few things, namely, Corolla and Rhiannon's weapons. Any of you who may be familiar to one of my other stories, 'The Diary of Glynda Goodwitch,' a much more... flamboyant exercise to say the least, may have notices that Corolla and Rhiannon's weapons bear _remarkable _similarity to what I've come up with for Summer Rose and Emmy Valkyrie respectively; this is because these concepts were originally intended for this story, but at the time that i wrote them into the Diary, I wasn't sure if I'd ever get around to writing this. I think that's all for now though, but if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to shoot me a PM or just leave it in a review. **


	5. A Matter Of Pride

_**Three Years after I'm Not Perfect**_

* * *

_**Weiss Schnee Studious**_

* * *

Weiss clenched her teeth as her foot swept backwards along the tiled floor and she skidded to a stop. This was it – she had to hold the line here or everything – _all the sacrifices made – _would be meaningless. How long had this battle been raging? She'd lost track, but it was long enough. Jaune, Ren, Fox, Cardin, _even Blake _had eventually fallen before the foes against which now only Weiss remained to stand. The enemy had numbered eight at first, and through careful planning and strictly coordinated execution, Weiss and her comrades had worn them down to a final two, but whether or not she could stand against them both, Weiss wasn't sure.

_Time to find out…_

"You ready for this Princess?"

"I guess we'll find out…"

"Fight well…"

"Yeah… Thanks Pyrrha…"

_How did I get roped into this?_

* * *

**Eight Hours Earlier**

* * *

Weiss tapped her pen repeatedly next to her name on the sheet of exam paper; she'd finished almost twenty minutes ago, and double-checked besides, but there were still five more minutes to go. Five short minutes. After four years of classes, lectures, presentations and exams, it all came down to five more minutes… There were still the six weeks of supervised field work between her and graduation, this much was true, but after five minutes, her life as a _student _was over; no more classes, lectures, presentations, or exams. Five more minutes, and she could go to the RWBY dorm, change out of her Beacon uniform, and never put it on again…

_I'm going to miss it… _

But all good things had to come to an end eventually, and this chapter of her life was no different. She'd still have two weeks' break and the six more weeks of hunting out of Beacon before she had to move out of the Beacon Dorm – _that_ was really when everything was going to change, and the RWBY family would have to go their separate ways, and that would be it.

They'd all come a long way in the past four years – they'd been strong from the start, but over their Beacon time, they'd all – RWBY, JNPR, _all of them – _grown nigh-unstoppable. That was how she felt when they fought together, at least; Ruby Rose the swift, Blake Belladonna the quiet, Yang Xiao Long the strong, and Weiss Schnee the shield. Weiss allowed herself a little smile as she thought of it; time and again they'd proven over and over that, standing together, nothing could break them. Soon enough though, each would – _she would _– have to stand on her own two feet.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, pencils down, the testing period is now at an end," The voice of Glynda Goodwitch disturbed the Heiress's anxious thoughts as the professor walked along the front row of lecterns, "Please pass your exam papers to the front row,"

_Well, no issue there, _The Heiress thought, straightening her papers as she accepted the exams of Cardin Winchester, Velvet Scarletina, and Russell Thrush as they were passed forward, _I've been sitting in the front row for years…_

As Goodwitch collected the exams, she continued, "Congratulations Ladies and Gentlemen; your formal course of study here at Beacon Academy is now complete," She paused, adjusting her glasses, "That said, there is of course the matter of the Commencement Festival at the end of your break. Please recall that the point of this event is to demonstrate the extent to which you have received a well-rounded education here at Beacon above and beyond the core of your studies as Huntsmen and Huntresses. As such, while weapon and Dustcraft demonstrations are _acceptable, _you are encouraged to consider a more… _civilian _manner of exhibit,"

_I almost forgot about that… _Weiss rolled her eyes, _let the chaos begin…_

"I got it!" Yang sprang up from her seat and slammed her palms on the desktop enthusiastically as Goodwitch finished and took her leave of the lecture hall, "We should do a-,"

"A Haunted House!"

"A Club!"

Both sisters declared with equal enthusiasm, only to suddenly mellow when they realized that they weren't quite on the same page. And then all hell broke loose. All at once, Yang grabbed Weiss by both shoulders and Ruby similarly took hold of Blake as the bombastic sisters started reasoning with each other in a manner which increasingly resembled shouting over each other with each passing word.

"With the Princess here, we can throw a kick-ass indoor fireworks display and-,"

"But with Blake we could totally scare the bejesus out of-!

"Nah, nah, _Sis, _look at the big picture – settin' up a club's gonna show that we've got 'entrepreneurial spirit' or somethin like-,"

"But Yang-!"

"Apupup! Enough!" The Heiress put her foot down stepping away and holding Yang at an arm's length, "You're both being ridiculous!"

Blake nodded, likewise, if less abruptly, stepping away from Ruby, "I'm… I'm inclined to agree…"

"But-!"

"Apupup!"

"Weiss-!"

"_Apupup!_" Weiss insisted, holding up a finger for silence, "Setting aside the cultural _irrelevance _of either of those suggestions-,"

"Hey!"

"I'm not finished!" Weiss asserted, "While undoubtedly '_fun_,' it's worth remembering that the Festival is meant to be an _enriching experience-_,"

"Aren't you rich enough Weiss?" Ruby pouted – though at nineteen years old now, what had once been a powerful weapon had lost much of its potency.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "That isn't what I meant and you know it. I _mean _that we should really put some thought and effort into this; and we should group up with more people to make a contribution to the festivities of _actual _cultural value."

"What? Fun too 'low brow' for ya Princess?" the Brawler, now somewhat irate, crossed her arms over her chest, "I don't see _you _coming' up with better ideas though,"

"We could do a play…" Blake suggested, "Writing a script could be a challenge but I'm sure it's doable…"

Weiss nodded, "I like the way you think Blake – it's classy, _and _it can effectively demonstrate that the scope of our skills extends beyond the-,"

"Or we could do an OPERA!" Fencer, Brawler, Reaper, and assassin all jumped back at once from the sudden shout of Nora Valkyrie, "I even have a script ready!" she leaned forward conspiratorially, "_The script is actually a family heirloom~_"

"A _what?_" Weiss asked dubiously, not entirely sure that she wanted to know.

"My mom wrote it back when _she _was in combat school! We can perform it for _our _graduation-thingy too – _and it will be epic…_"

"Um…"

"I'll take that!" Yang chirped as she snatched the script held out in Nora's hands and eagerly started flipping through the pages, "Oh… Oh Hell _yes…_"

"Why do I like this idea less and less by the moment…?" Weiss backed away slowly.

"Oh, come on Weiss, you were on board with _Blake's _idea for a play…" Ruby pointed out, entreating her partner and taking her hand, "It'll be fun!"

Weiss faltered, "Well…"

Blake took the script from Yang's hands to assess the contents for herself, but after a mere few seconds, she paled, "No… just… No…"

Instantly Weiss withdrew her hand, "That can't be good – I'm with Blake on this one – yet again…"

"Hey, what's this all about?" Jaune asked, coming over along with Ren and Pyrrha.

"Wait… don't tell me…" Ren stopped cold at the sight of Nora's sheaf of paper, "Nora… I thought we talked about this…"

"Yang and Ruby wanna do it!" Nora protested.

"Irrelevant!" Weiss cut back in, looking over the cast list on the first page of the script after receiving the pages from Blake, "Even if we _did _seek to perform this.. this _thing…_and _everyone performed no less than two separate parts, _we'd still need _at least _sixteen people…"

"Can we help?" It was Cardin now; despite some rough spots with Team CRDL, the lot of them had really shaped up over the last few years. None of that, however, changed the fact that the offer Cardin had _probably _intended to be a helping hand was actually – thanks to his ignorance of all the details of the situation – making things worse, "I mean we've got no idea what the hell we're doin' so…"

"That _would _balance out the gender ratio…" Pyrrha commented as she took her turn to look over the script with far more interest than Weiss would have liked to see, "If nothing else, it looks like fun…"

Weiss Schnee facepalmed, "Not you too… in any event though, we _still _can't perform this well without at least-,"

"Check it," Yang interrupted, pulling out her scroll, "I've got _all _of Team CVFY on speed-dial…"

"I say we put it to a vote!" Weiss insistently declared, _Surely there are enough sane individuals here that the outcome should be obvious… _"all in favor of writing an original or adapting an existing work of literature?"

In unison, Blake, Ren, Cardin, Russell Thrush, Jaune, and Weiss herself raised their hands.

"_Aaaaand _all in favor of Nora's _already written _and ready-to-perform _Epic?_" Yang said with a smirk, and received in response raised hands from Nora – both hands, as a matter of fact – Pyrrha, Ruby, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark in addition to her own, "Looks like a tie, Princess~"

Weiss frowned, passing a disappointed look around between those who voted yay. Ruby hid behind Yang – just a little bit – but the rest were patently unrepentant, "So we have… I can only hope that Team CVFY will prove more sensible than the lot of you and see things _our way,_" She stepped back and made a sweeping gesture to indicate her cohorts, "Or at least decline your invitation altogether…"

* * *

**Seven Hours and Forty-Five Minutes Later**

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have _ten minutes _to figure out how to stop a _freight train…_"

"Ruby, Yang, Nora, _and Pyrrha…_" Blake counted off on her fingers, "They're the ones we _really _have to worry about… No offense…" She shot half of Teams, CRDL and CVFY an apologetic look.

"None taken…" Cardin sighed, rolling his eyes, "They're the brawn of the top two teams in our class…"

"A touch ironic coming from _you _Cardin…" Weiss commented dryly, "but enough of this! We're wasting time! We can't win this without a plan – and brawn though they may be, they aren't _stupid, _so it needs to be a _good plan…_"

Blake, Jaune, Ren, Velvet, Fox, Cardin, and Russell all nodded their agreement with the Heiress's sentiment. There arrayed in the east wing of Beacon academy were those members of the four team who'd seen Nora Valkyrie's _epic _and truly known _fear. _Across the building in the west wing, their adversaries were conspiring their plan of attack – some of them thought Nora's idea would be, to quote a certain blonde brawler "a hoot," whilst other – having to a man not actually bothered to read the script, it hadn't escaped the Heiress's attention – simply thought it would have been more efficient to work with an existing script rather than come up with something new. Whatever the reason though, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and four woefully misguided followers now threatened the plainly more sensible half of their company with the prospect of having to perform some crime against literature entitled _The Reduced Valkyrie Company's King Sweeney Leer the XVIII's Odyssey to the Center of the Ring Cycle's Inferno – with cross-dressing.' _

_They must be stopped… _

"Still… we aren't without advantages," Blake remarked, gesturing first to herself, then Velvet and Fox, "We're fighting at night; _The three of us _can see just fine…"

Fox nodded, "Yeah… that could work…"

Cardin raised an eyebrow, "Couldn't they just turn on the lights?"

"They _could…_" Blake explained patiently, "_If _I hadn't taken the liberty of pulling the fuses…"

"_Excellent!_ "Weiss brightened, "That's one; now we just need to fine more advantages to exploit…" She looked from one of her comrades in her cobbled-together alliance to another with some consideration, "Ren, _Nora is your responsibility…_"

The stoic boy closed his eyes and nodded wearily, "Yeah…"

Weiss nodded, "Good… Blake, Velvet, Fox, how fast can you deal with the… _misguided _members of Teams CVFY and CRDL?"

"Oh come on – Russell and I can handle _my boys-_,"

Weiss shook her head, "If we're going to do this, we have to trim their numbers fast, and besides…" She hesitated, "I need _you, Jaune, and Russell _to keep Yang and Pyrrha busy anyway…"

Three horrified young men locked eyes on the Heiress, who averted her gaze, "You're uh… You're joking, _right?_" Jaune gave voice to all of their thoughts.

"Now, now; hear me out…" Weiss put up her hands in a defensive gesture, "Thanks to Blake's _initiative _we can _out maneuver them, _but we need to use _all _of our advantages – that's why _Ren _is dealing with _Nora. _By the same token, Of all of us, _you _Jaune are most likely to have Pyrrha _go easy on you…_"

"Exploit our relationship on the off-chance she doesn't _kill me…_nice…" Jaune sighed, but didn't offer any other objection.

"So why do _I _have to-,"

"_You, _Cardin, are also running interference because _Yang still _owes you one on account of that concussion three years ago, and since you've gotten your act together-,"

"I resent that-,"

"Is it _not _true?"

"Mmmm… fine…"

"_Good,_" Weiss sighed, "Right, and before you ask Russell, _you _are also on _that _team because… Well let's face it; pity won't be enough…"

"So that leaves _you _to guard the flag…" Blake nodded, "Are you sure? They'll probably send _Ruby _on ahead to claim the flag…"

"Let me worry about that…" Weiss shook her head, "although that does raise a good point… After you three finish with your first objective, you should split up…"

* * *

**Five minutes later**

* * *

"Contact," Blake's voice came over Weiss's earpiece, along with the sound of Gambol Shroud being drawn.

"Found her," Ren this time.

_Going smoothly so far…_ Weiss thought as she stood guard over their flag – a plush shark of all things – on the veranda outside the east wing, _That just leaves-_

"OH CRAP! OH CRAP! OH GOD CARDIN HELP ME!"

Weiss winced, "Not encouraging… about what I should've expected though…"

"Weiss, I just saw Ruby run past," It was velvet's voice now, along with the sounds of Dust discharges and Sky Lark's exclamations of surprise, "Get ready!"

"Copy Velvet," Weiss replied, drawing Myrtenaster, "Proceed as planned, I'll have the situation under control,"

"R-," there was a loud clamoring, "Right!"

No sooner had the line gone dead again than did the doors out onto the Veranda burst open, and out into the light of Remnant's broken moon strolled Ruby Rose, twirling her scythe. Weiss grabbed the stuffed shark toy – if Ruby got a hold of it and tor off, then it was all over. This precaution taken, Weiss rounded on her partner and assumed her fencing stance, ready to fight, _You only need one hand for Myrtenaster, so whatever you do, don't. let go. Of the Plushie… I… I can't believe I just thought that sentence…_

"I knew _you'd _stay back…" Ruby sighed, but then cracked a mischievous smile, "But don't think I'm going easy on you…"

"Perish the thought," Weiss responded dryly, beginning to circle to Ruby's right, "But it'll be a cold day in Hell before _I _perform in _that _monstrosity…"

Ruby giggled, "Oh come on! You have to admit it looks like fun!"

"Perhaps if I were _seven…_"

"Twenty-one is a multiple of seven~"

Weiss just rolled her eyes, "En garde!"

With that, Weiss launched herself forward to score the opening strike. No one else would have fit this role, it had to be said; of all those on the _sensible _team, no one else was fast enough to counter Ruby, but then, that part only mattered if she royally screwed this up. Setting that aside, Velvet _might _have been fit for this role, but that wouldn't have left any room for error. Still, Ruby lifted Crescent Rose as expected to parry the blow, and at that point, 'what ifs' and 'could've beens' ceased to matter.

As Weiss disengaged from the rebuff, Ruby commented, "I remember the first time we did this…"

"What? Fought like children over a stuffed toy on a second-floor veranda outside the East wing?"

Ruby snorted with laughter, "No silly! The first time _we _dueled!"

"As I recall, I barely kept that to a draw…" Weiss rejoined with her own less jovial reminiscence.

"Aw… you don't have to put it like that…" Ruby balanced Crescent Rose on her shoulder, "Let's just have a good time with this – a play's a play, right?"

"Alas Ruby, I still have _some _dignity…" The Heiress shot back, "Now let's try to make this quick; it's late…" Weiss shot her Team Leader a sly smirk, "Unless you're too scared…"

"Oh you are _so on!_"

In a flash, Ruby was in her face, and Weiss just barely raised Myrtenaster to block Crescent Rose's absurdly large blade. At this point though, her rapier was all but useless as a defensive weapon – Ruby's reach was longer – so Weiss resorted to something less conventional. With a flick of her wrist – plush shark still in hand – she conjured a small glyph under Ruby's left foot and caused it to darken. Next, she stepped back, and when Ruby made to follow and press the attack, her foot was fixed to the dark little rune and she tripped, crying out in surprise. To her credit, Ruby managed to collapse her scythe as she fell and fired off several rounds, but all of them bounced harmlessly off a barrier glyph Weiss summoned as she let the first dissipate so as to allow Ruby to fall forward without spraining an ankle. With a quick tuck and roll though, the scythe-wielder was back on her feet in an instant, and behind Weiss besides.  
"I'll take that~" the Crimsonette chirped, plucking the stuffed shark from Weiss's right hand, "Awww… and he's so _cute too~_"

"Oh no you don't!" Weiss whirled, performing a pirouette slash as she did so, but Ruby was already gone, "Ruby Rose! Get back here!"

"Nope~"

_And this is why Velvet wasn't suited for this job… _Weiss thought bitterly as she called up a glyph at her feet and used it to pursue her partner through the halls of Beacon. Ruby was still faster, _but not by much, _and the various corners and turns they'd have to navigate before reaching the west wing would all but negate that advantage. Trouble was, much as Ruby liked a good fight, she wasn't foolish enough to let herself get bogged down in one when she had a clearly defined – and very different objective –not anymore, so Weiss was going to have to stop her on the run, rather than bait her into a fight. Conjuring repulsion glyphs at every turn to add speed and help her maneuver, Weiss was now managing to keep pace with Ruby, but as she careened around another corner, she realized that they were about to hit the main hallway connecting the two wings. On a straightaway like that, Ruby wouldn't have any problem widening the gap.

_Now or never Weiss… _Clenching her teeth, she made a decision, _This is probably going to hurt…_

Concentrating _very carefully _to get the positioning right relative to Ruby – and therefore dynamic as opposed to in one fixed point – Weiss summoned up a gravity glyph much the same as the one she'd used to hold her partner in place during 'operation _slingshot_' on their initiation. All at once a very surprised and startled Ruby was yanked backwards, the plushy flying from her hand as she flailed and tumbled backwards as Weiss had been hoping. Unfortunately, at the velocity they'd been traveling, Weiss had no opportunity to stop herself or get out of the way, and so collided with Ruby like a ton of bricks. With a yelp and a grunt of discomfort, the two fell entangled to the floor, and both Scythe and Rapier were clattering away across the floor of the corridor.

"Owww…"

Weiss didn't indulge the moment's irritation or disorientation though – everything hinged on what she made of this opportunity – she reached into the pouch where she kept her spare vials of Frost Dust, pulled one out, and smashed it on the floor tiles next to Ruby's hand. With a concentrated burst of her aura, the blue powder glimmered to life and began to obey Weiss's instructions, expanding into more and more ice and encasing her Red-clad opponent from the shoulders down, and thoroughly entombing the stuffed shark at the same time. This done, the Heiress got back to her feet and Dusted herself off before moving to retrieve her sword.

"Well… I'd say that takes care of that…"

"W-wow it just got cold…"

"Well yes… Blocks of ice tend to be…" Weiss chuckled, "Tell you what; you keep sharkie-chan or whatever it is Yang called it company, and I'll come back to thaw you out in ten or so minutes when we're done with this nonsense?"

"But – You can't just _leave me here!_" Ruby protested, craning her neck to look at Weiss – which was no small feat, considering that her head was presently protruding laterally from a slab of ice the size of a small room – and she pouted as she made upside-down eye-contact with the Heiress, who was still trying to resist laughter, "I mean, aren't _you _supposed to guard the flag or something? Don't leave me alone…"

"I don't think the flag is going anywhere fast…" Weiss stated dryly, "But in all seriousness, I promise to come back for you okay?"

Ruby sighed, grumbling a bit, "_Fine… _I suppose we can _laugh _about this later…"

"That's the spirit,"

* * *

"Status report Ladies and Gentlemen," Weiss spoke through her earpiece as she walked away from where she'd frozen Ruby in place, "Ruby's out of play, and the flag is secure,"

"Coco gave us more trouble than we counted on – she got Fox – but otherwise Velvet and I are set and proceeding to phase two,"

Weiss nodded as she continued down the hall, not that there was anyone else to see, "Good. Ren?"

"Little busy at the-," Ren's voice was interrupted by a smashing noise and Nora's maniacal giggles.  
"Blake! Ren needs back up!" Weiss didn't wait for Ren to come back and finish his report.

"Yeah um… WHAT ABOUT US!" It was Cardin now, and Yang's gauntlets could be heard firing off in the background.

"Hang in there Winchester, I'm on my way!" Weiss shouted back picking up the pace, "Where's Pyrrha?"

"Here!" Jaune's voice cracked over the airwaves, "We're all in the Arena – and we've lost Russell! Oh God, _please help us!_"

"I'll be there in thirty seconds!"

Without an instant to spare, Weiss called up a glyph at her feet again to hasten her progress. The sparring arena wasn't far from her current position, but if Yang and Pyrrha were _in the same space, _there was no time to lose. Jaune and Cardin _absolutely _needed backup, and if she couldn't get there in time, she didn't want to think about what roles she'd be playing in Nora's mother's _'magnum opus.'_

_There is no way in Hell that I'm going to have my last event at this school be such an embarrassing one! S_he thought determinately as she arrived at the doors to the arena space… right as Cardin Winchester tumbled through them and collapsed, _Apparently thirty seconds was too long… _

Her grip tightening on Myrtenaster, Weiss gritted her teeth and proceeded inside, only halting for a moment as Jaune careened down the corridor and collapsed at her feet in a semi-conscious daze. Resuming her progress, Weiss took a deep breath, _Time for the fight of your life Weiss… _

"Blake, Ren, sit-rep?"

Blake groaned over the mic, "We… we got her… took us with her though…"

Weiss gritted her teeth, "That's it then…"

As she walked out into the open, she saw them both. Yang was reloading, Pyrrha was standing guard, and as such saw the Heiress first, as evidenced by the way her stance tensed. Neither one of them would have been an _impossible fight – _Weiss and Yang were roughly even in terms of wins and losses when they sparred together, and while the odds against Pyrrha were less favorable, Weiss _had _pulled it off a handful of times over the years – but both at once? _You must be out of your mind…_

Looking up, Yang noticed her, and a grin spread across her face, "You ready for this Princess?"

"I guess we'll find out…"

"Fight well…" Pyrrha chimed in, a rather more sympathetic – though not so sympathetic as to throw the fight – look on her face.

"Yeah… Thanks Pyrrha…"

_Alright Weiss, think: You can't come at Yang head on… best not to deliver any impact damage at all really so she can't throw it back in your face… Other than that… stay out of reach… If I can just freeze her like Ruby though… _She gave herself a slight nod, _any low-impact mass Dust barrage would do the trick… but then there's Pyrrha… _She shot the red-headed spear-fighter an appraising look, and then glanced down at Myrtenaster in her hand, before ejecting the Dust cartridges, _You, old friend, might just be more of a liability for this one… _Without a further thought she cast Myrtenaster aside and discreetly opened the vials of dust she'd drawn from it, letting the contents filter out into the air, but she took great care not to trigger any reaction.

Yang raised an eyebrow, putting up her fists, ready to fight, "That's really how you're gonna play this?"

Pyrrha's eyes just narrowed perceptively, a little smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, "Very well…"

Weiss nodded, spreading her hands in an open gesture, "I'm afraid Ruby's… _hit a snag… _and save you two, the rest of your team is down and out, so if you want…" Weiss rolled her eyes, _"Sharkie-Chan… _you'll have to go through me…"

"A'ight…" Yang's grin broadened massively, "Let's do this!"

Yang charged forward, gauntlets deployed, whilst Pyrrha took a knee, balancing Milo on her shield and opened fire. Weiss caught the rifle rounds with a glyph, rendering them harmless, and as Yang got within four yards she snapped her fingers. All at once, Myrtenaster's full payload worth of Dust dispersed in the air reacted in response to her aura, lighting the dim arena up with an aurora of vibrant colors. Lightning fizzed and crackled, plumes of fire erupted to life, and with a flick of her wrist amidst the distracting spectacle, Weiss guided all of the frost Dust to the floor, freezing most of the arena over and then drifted gently out of the way on her glyph as a distracted Yang lost her footing on the frozen ground as she nevertheless attempted to take a swing. Off balance as the brawler was though, Weiss easily avoided the somewhat clumsy blow thanks to her superior mobility, now all the more advantageous as she was the only one who could move unhindered – well, the only one _accustomed _to fighting under these circumstances.

Pyrrha caught on quickly though, and in an instant, Akouo was on the ground beneath her feet as a sort of improvised substitute for the glyphs Weiss was using to move. Maintaining careful balance all the while, Pyrrha used her own semblance to move the shield as she stood on it and continued to fire in Weiss's direction, but even Pyrrha couldn't maintain steady aim under those circumstances, and every shot was either dodged or halted by one of the Heiress's barriers.

_This is good. Act. Don't react. Control the field, and make them respond to you. Just keep the pressure on Yang so she can't load a Burn shell… _

Shielded from Pyrrha's volleys of suppressing fire behind a glyph, Weiss drew out another spare vial of Dust, lightning this time, and opened it to give herself something to work with. Manipulating a small portion of the contents, she used her Aura to trigger the reaction and shot an arc of lightning Yang's way, forcing her to concentrate on defending herself rather than getting back to her feet, the hit knocking her onto her back again and sending her sliding a few yards. Unfortunately, keeping up the pressure was not so simple as that, as Pyrrha had come to the conclusion that there was nothing to be gained by taking potshots at a shielded target; instead, she converted Milo into its spear form in one hand, and channeling her semblance through the other, steered her shield-turned-platform to hurtle towards Weiss. Pyrrha veered around the large glyph that had stymied all of her gunfire, and before Weiss could adjust the positioning of the barrier, she took a swing, to be barely halted by a palm-sized glyph before Weiss's outstretched hand.

As Pyrrha brought herself about for another pass, Weiss let the larger glyph flicker out; she couldn't spare the energy or concentration in this situation. Momentarily unassaulted, Weiss then took the opportunity to use more of the lightning Dust to arc bolts of luminescent blue electricity at both her opponents. Yang, who'd gotten up to a stable position on one knee, crossed her arms to block, letting her aura doo the rest, but Pyrrha was much more vulnerable; Milo – particularly in its extended spear mode, acted as one big lightning rod, drawing Weiss's attacks to their target. Pyrrha lost her balance and tumbled down onto the ice as the first bolt struck her weapon and the current proceeded through her to reach the ground. The Mistral Champion's Aura would protect her from the brunt of the effects, but it was more than enough of a charge to play havoc with her magnetic control of her shield for the duration of the shock, the results being that she fell and skidded across the ice past Yang.

Unfortunately, While Weiss had her attention focused upon Pyrrha, Yang had changed ammunition, and with a fist slammed into the ground, she melted the ice in a radius of several yards around her before standing and firing rounds off at the ground all over the arena, _Dammit… _

Mustering all the lightning Dust left in the cartridge at once, Weiss took advantage of the fact that Yang and Pyrrha were, for the moment at least, oriented to her in the same direction, and released it all in one massive conflagration of crackling light and ozone to scourge everything in that direction. It was no good though; the same lightning rod of which Weiss had taken advantage mere moments earlier proved itself a double edged sword, so to speak, as with a discharge of gunfire, Milo embedded itself in the floor several yards ahead of yang, drawing the electricity to fall short.

_Not good! _Weiss's mind raced as Yang charged head-on, her path clear and untampered with, _Need more time… _

Drawing another spare Dust cartridge at random, Weiss smashed it on the floor and mustered the full contents at once to generate a hurricane of heat and fire, giving Yang pause. Drifting backwards on her glyph as she did so, Weiss rapidly converted the fire Dust into projectile fireballs, all of which aimed at Yang and discharging from the main body of fire surrounding the Heiress as she pulled away. Yang dodged and weaved around the incendiary missiles as she pursued, closing the distance again faster than Weiss would have liked before finally straight up powering through the remaining field of fire, recklessly taking the damage because she knew she _could. _Weiss tried to cast another glyph to catch the blow, but it was almost as though time slowed down when Yang barreled through the flaming barrier and her fist rocketed forward to inevitably connect with Weiss's ribs.

The result was as dramatic as it was instantaneous; Weiss was sent flying backwards and to the ground, skidding to a stop on one of the few remaining patches of ice on the floor, ironically enough, _God that hurt… Not like you haven't taken worse though – So get up! _Yang was already coming again, so as she got back to her feet, Weiss summoned a mobility glyph – not under her own feet, but _Yang's – _and with a sweeping gesture of the hand, she effectively _threw _Yang off course and into the nearby wall of the arena, _That probably bought you about fifteen seconds to –_

She didn't even get to finish the thought as Akouo came flying her way and she barely managed to roll out of the way. Before Pyrrha could call it back though, Weiss called up a gravity glyph to wrest it from the air – and momentarily from Pyrrha's control – for just long enough for her to alter the glyph's direction an reverse its properties, launching the projectile-shield out of the arena the same way that she herself had entered. Still Pyrrha charged, and in the precious few seconds she had Weiss took her last back-up vial of frost Dust and used it – all of it – to improvise an icy facsimile of Myrtenaster, along with about a hundred icicle lances arrayed in the air behind her as she took hold of the sword. At her command, frozen harpoons surged forward in threes and fours at Weiss's incoming attacker, and when she proved able to smash them from the air with her spear, Weiss started launching them in fives and sixes. A few managed to connect in the last few yards, but none of them were enough to stop the spearmaiden, and Weiss was forced to raise her frozen blade to parry an opening thrust of Pyrrha's spear. While certainly better than being empty-handed given the circumstances, _ice _was no substitute for the actual Myrtenaster; _true, _Pyrrha couldn't manipulate it, but it was also much too fragile, and to be of any use at all, Weiss had to constantly maintain a steady stream of Aura to reinforce it. While not particularly draining on her body, the technique required _focus _that she really couldn't spare against an opponent like Pyrrha. She managed to block another thrust, parry a slash, and sidestep a high kick, but the next thrust she parried was immediately followed up upon by a sweeping attack directed at the Heiress's feet with the butt of the spear, which knocked her on her back.

The spearhead came down like a hammer, but Weiss didn't wait around to be there when it struck. Instead, she rolled out of the way and got back to her feet, casting a small glyph as she did so under Pyrrha's right foot and using it to yank Pyrrha's balance from under her before summoning a larger glyph to drag the spear-fighter to the ground in her turn. Weiss was back on her in an instant, swordpoint pressed lightly to the red-head's sternum. Unfortunately, at the same time Weiss heard the familiar sound of Yang's gauntlets cocking and felt cold steel pressed to the back of her neck.

"Gotcha~"

Weiss didn't relax, "Well I suppose it's been fun…"

"I'm hearing a 'but…'" Yang pressed, eyebrow raised.

"T-this is…' Velvet's voice crackled over Weiss's earpiece in breathy gasps, "This is Velvet… I have the… the flag… On the east veranda…"

Weiss finally cracked a smile, letting her icicle sword dissipate into snowflakes which fluttered harmlessly to the ground, "Fortunately, I win…"

Yang's jaw dropped, "You… You crafty little…"

"Hmmm…" Pyrrha mused as Weiss helped her to her feet, "I have to admit that I had not been expecting a decoy…"

Yang's arms fell to her sides, "Dammit…"

Weiss just shot her a look, "You didn't honestly expect that I came all by myself to fight _both of you _at once expecting to _win, _did you?"

"Well-,"

"Ladies…"

All three fighters froze, _Oh crap…_

"Oh… Miss Goodwitch… Top of the… evening…?"

"I am not amused, Miss Xiao Long. Do you have _any idea _how many noise complaints I've received in the last _fifteen minutes?_"

"Would we be in less trouble if we said that this had to do with the commencement festival…?" Yang asked hopefully.

"No," The professor replied, somewhere between exasperation and impatience, "I expect to see all of you outside my office at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Your… _co-belligerents _have already been informed…"

Weiss winced, but in unison, the three Beacon seniors all nodded, "Yes Ma'am…"

**Author's Note: Okay, so as promised, this chapter takes place prior to RWBY's graduation, as will the next chapter. I tried to make a point of showing at least a little of how most of the characters have grown over their Beacon time – Ruby prioritizing the objective (trivial as it was) over a good fight, Blake being a bit more sociable (if slightly), and CRDL having grown out of being complete jerks – although the obvious emphasis is still on Weiss I grant. Incidentally, if anyone's wondering precisely how much Dust she was actually carrying, my thought was no less than two back-ups for each of Myrtenaster's chambers – which proved necessary in that last set-piece. It was work, but I do enjoy writing these action scenes, so I hope that you enjoyed them – whether or not you're a fan of School Rumble parody (I know I've done this in the Diary of Glynda Goodwitch, but as before, **_**this **_**was what I was originally planning to do, but I did it in the Diary as well because I wasn't sure that I'd ever write this and I **_**really wanted to do it… **_**As I'm still waffling on whether or not I want to do it, I'd love to hear from you about whether or not – or to what extent – you'd like to see the events of the festival; I'm going to do some, but I'm not sure how much of it I'm going to cover. Anyway, do feel free to fav, follow, or leave a review (I do always appreciate those – feedback is nice) and I'll see you all next time. Oh, and also, shout out to ElfCollaborator – because I can. **


	6. The Weight of the World

_**Three Years After I'm Not Perfect**_

* * *

**Weiss Schnee of Atlas **

* * *

The office of Glynda Goodwitch was a surprisingly spacious one; even with a large ebony desk, a half dozen packed bookshelves, and the good professor's chair, there was still room for sixteen guilty individuals to stand contrite before that desk and the unamused Professor Goodwitch. The Professor had never really been of the patient sort – she expected nothing less than the best from her students – whether that be in combat performance or the way in which they comported themselves, and when a group of _four complete teams - _four of the best in their year, no less – got up to ridiculous stunts the likes of which had landed RWBY, JNPR, CVFY, and CRDL in her office, _unamused _was the gentlest way to describe the instructor's mood.

"Frankly ladies and gentlemen, I'm not quite sure where to begin…" That much at least, was a first; Goodwitch was always ready with the list of infractions to be atoned for – usually by enforced clerical work – and Weiss privately thanked God that Beacon didn't have its own Dust mining facility, "Thirty seven noise complaints, fighting in the _halls, _Dust _everywhere-_," Weiss winced, "-to say _nothing _of the nightmare you've left for the grounds keeping staff…" The professor shook her head with a frustrated sigh, "All of you have come a _long _way since you first enrolled here, and I had _thought _that you represented the best that Beacon had to offer – but frankly, what I've seen last night forces me to reconsider! It was a positively _childish _display!"

_My thoughts exactly… _Weiss cringed as she took the reprimand, _But it had to be done… _

"Dare I ask which one of you proposed the _brilliant _idea of conducting war games in the school _at night!?_"

All sixteen guilty parties were silent at first under the suffocating weight of the stern instructor's accusing stare. Even Nora, ever the giddy and cheerful one, seemed somewhat dejected, but to Weiss's surprise, she did raise her hand.

Glynda Goodwitch sighed again, adjusting her glasses, "I might've known…" Her reproachful gaze then moved on from Nora to Ren, and through the group by turns as she continued, "I don't suppose any of you would be willing to _enlighten me _as to the reason for your little Thursday War?"

Nora was not prepared to answer that one, and neither, it seemed, was anyone else, so with a heavy sigh of resignation, Weiss cleared her throat to speak, "We'd reached an… _impasse _as to what we should put together for the Commencement festivities…"

"And what, _pray tell, _would that have been?"

"we…" Weiss hesitated, "Were in disagreement as to whether or not we should prepare and perform a script for a stage performance or…" She glanced Nora's way, only to be met with the unsettling sight of Nora staring dejectedly at the floor, "To perform a… _work_… supplied by Nora…"

Goodwitch raised an eyebrow, "And you could not simply have _voted _on it?"

"We tried that first…" Ruby spoke up now, albeit in a mousy whisper, "We came up dead even…"

"Why, then, was the next method of choosing _battle royale?_"

"Technically it was capture the-," Ruby shrank back as the Professor shot her a withering look, "Never mind…"

"It wouldn't be the _first time _that we've leveraged a disagreement into a…" Weiss searched for the best words, "_learning opportunity…_"

The professor massaged her temples, "You are all _immensely _fortunate that this _is _in fact a combat school… _anywhere else _and the lot of you would be expelled for this…"

"Am I hearing a _'but?'_" Yang asked hopefully, giving her best effort at a puppy-dog face. It wasn't working particularly well.

"_But…_" Glynda rolled her eyes, "As the Headmaster has rather _insistently _vouched for the lot of you, _again…_" the slight tone of bitterness did not escape Weiss's attention, "You'll be charged with the cleanup of your little _skirmish _as your _sole _punishment… I suggest that you _thank _Headmaster Ozpin _quite profusely _when next you see him… Dismissed,"

_That's… that's it? _Weiss could hardly believe it – it wasn't as though she'd com there expecting expulsion or anything, but to get off so easy was almost more unnerving. If there was one thing she knew about Glynda Goodwitch, it was that the woman was a rather stern disciplinarian, famous – or infamous as the case may be – throughout the school for handing down rather _severe _punishments for campus infractions in the name of preserving order. What Weiss absolutely believed, however, was that the Headmaster had told her to take it easy on them; it wouldn't be the first time, after all, and it was the only rational explanation for why the members of Teams RWBY,JNPR, CRDL, and CVFY weren't scrubbing toilets or delivering armloads of papers all over the building yet. Still, dubious as this reprieve was, Weiss wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth-

"Mr. Arc, Miss Nikos, and Miss Schnee, a further moment, if you would?"

Weiss froze in her progress towards the door, _Crap… please tell me this isn't what I think it is… _

Pyrrha was –as she'd always been - the top ranked combatant in their class, and Weiss edged out Blake and Ren for the best academics by about a tenth of a point on her GPA. Jaune, meanwhile, was arguably Beacon academy's greatest success story, having come to the school totally and _woefully _unprepared even for initiation, but after four years he was not only a commendable swordsman, but a capable – _arguably _brilliant – strategist and leader of his team. Taken together, these facts led Weiss to surmise that Goodwitch had singled them out for a private lecture to convey the _full extent _of her disappointment… Weiss had a long time to stew on what she assumed Goodwitch would say – at least it felt that way as the seconds dragged on whilst the other thirteen of their company sullenly filed out of the office. Phrases like _'I expected more…' _and _'you of all people…' _played over and over through her mind, until the door finally swung shut and Glynda leaned forward behind her desk, propped up on her palms.

"Well, now that we've dispensed with the unpleasantness…" The Professor's expression softened, "I would like to congratulate the three of you,"

Weiss blinked a few times at the rather perplexing statement, before glancing over to Jaune and Pyrrha, who appeared very much confused as well, "Ma'am…?"

Glynda pulled open the top drawer of her desk, and from it drew out three sealed envelopes to place on her desk, one each labeled _'Weiss Schnee,' 'Jaune Arc,' _and _'Pyrrha Nikos,'_ "Last night's… _escapades _notwithstanding, Headmaster Ozpin and I have conferred, and we have arrived at the decision to present you with these,"

_No… _

Jaune was first to pick his envelope up, "Professor… is this…?"

Glynda nodded, "Yes, Mr. Arc, within those envelopes each of you will find a formal invitation to join Beacon Academy's teaching staff upon your graduation, roughly eight weeks from today," She took off her glasses, folded them and set them down on the desk, "Provided of course that you can restrain yourselves from becoming involved in any further unwarranted disturbances of the peace…"

"I… don't know what to say Professor… I'm honored…" Pyrrha simply stared at the envelope in her hand, still sealed, "Are… are you sure…?"

"I assure you, Miss Nikos, this decision has not been arrived at lightly; we don't generally make a habit of bringing freshly graduated Huntsmen and Huntresses onto the staff – let alone _three _from one year – but several members of the staff expressed opinions regarding _each of you _that, in conjunction with your academic and field records, prompted the decision to offer you this opportunity," Glynda was patient as she explained it, but that didn't diminish the weight of the words being pronounced.

"You want… _me _to teach?" Jaune asked incredulously, staring aghast at the folded stationary that testified to that effect.

"Ozpin made a point of nominating you, actually, Mr. Arc," The Professor continued, "And while I'll not deny that I had my reservations about you at first…" Jaune scratched the back of his head nervously, but nonetheless Glynda continued, "in the final analysis, I am inclined to agree that your growth experience over the past four years represents an excellent teaching tool – it gives you perspective Mr. Arc, however humble your combat skills may be,"

"Thanks…?"

"Teach, huh?" Weiss didn't pick up the envelope – she didn't need to, "I can honestly say that I'd never thought about it…"

The professor gave her an understanding look, "I only ask that you consider the invitation. For now though, you may take your leave," With a nod and a grateful bow, Jaune and Pyrrha turned to follow after their cohorts and leave the room, but Weiss continued to stand before Goodwitch's desk, "Is something the matter, Miss Schnee?"

As the door shut behind her peers once again, Weiss Schnee hesitantly continued, "Ma'am, I'm honored but…"

"Why?" Glynda guessed, before gesturing to one of the chairs in front of her desk, "Have a seat," With a nod, Weiss obeyed as the Professor took her own seat across the ebony polished wood desk and waited for the Professor to continue, "Miss Schnee, you are the academic valedictorian of your year, would that not be sufficient cause for our interest in you?"

"Ruby is the youngest Huntress ever to graduate from here – a noteworthy achievement in itself – but you haven't made this offer to her," Weiss countered.

Glynda nodded, "No we have not – though that should not be interpreted as a lack of confidence in your partner's abilities, Miss Schnee – if anything, she is one of the best fighters this Academy has ever produced,"

"But you weren't looking for the best _fighter- _your selection of Pyrrha notwithstanding?"

Again Glynda nodded, "Your combat ability, impressive though it is, was a secondary criteria in the making of this decision," the Professor cracked what Weiss would swear was a wry little smile, "Although – and you did _not _here this from me – but you performed rather well against Miss Nikos and Miss Xiao Long last night…"

Weiss blinked, not quite sure how to take that, "How long had you been watching?"

"Long enough," Goodwitch answered dryly, "But the strategy you used is a prime example of what prompted me to recommend you,"

"Wait… _you _recommended me?"

"Yes, Miss Schnee," Goodwitch sat relaxed into her chair, "No one likes to think about this sort of thing, but I won't be around forever, and of all the students that I've had over the years, I can think of none more suited to fill my role when I'm gone than you, Miss Schnee,"

"_Me?_" Weiss was surprised to hear it at first, but as the initial shock subsided, she nodded, "I suppose I can see it…" It was no egotistical statement, but rather the logical conclusion when she held up what she understood about herself against what she knew of Professor Goodwitch.

"Good," Glynda Goodwitch said with approval, "You see, Miss Schnee, when one reduces things to a fundamental level, two kinds of people are needed in an institution such as Beacon; those who inspire, and those who enable – or, as Headmaster Ozpin prefers to put it, 'Those who motivate us to achieve excellence' and 'those who make sure the world keeps turning.'" Weiss nodded, listening intently as the older woman continued, "Individuals such as Headmaster Ozpin, Mr. Arc, and Miss Rose belong to the former category, whether by example or experience…" Goodwitch tapped her fingers on the surface of her desk a few times to punctuate the thought before she moved on, "Those such as you and I, Miss Schnee, belong in the latter,"

Weiss nodded again, "Father always said something to the same effect,"

"And he is right," Glynda agreed, "In combat, as in business, one has to balance the demands of the situation with one's available resources – human, material, etcetera – to achieve your goal. People who inspire are the ones who lead, take the front line, and inevitably win the better part of the glory – they are the ones whom others look up to and exemplify what it is that it means to be a Huntsman or Huntress. But every captain needs a quartermaster; one to make certain that things run smoothly. You fill this role in Team RWBY better than I've seen anyone do so before you. Both in terms of battlefield management and supporting your Team's academic pursuits – Frankly I wonder sometimes whether Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long would pass their academic courses without you to remind them to _do _their work…"

Weiss chuckled nervously, "I can't have myself associated with failing grades…"

"Indeed not…" Goodwitch rolled her eyes, remembering more than one… sub-standard paper she'd graded from the two sisters, "But the point that I'm driving at here is that, in a nutshell, the role you've assumed within Team RWBY rather neatly mirrors my duties a s regards the academy, and I can think of no one better suited to assume my responsibilities when the time comes."

"I understand… and thank you ma'am…"

"Of course, in your case specifically, I recognize that this may not be the career path that you had in mind…"

Weiss shook her head, sitting upright in her chair now, "No ma'am, but I can do it,"

Glynda raised an eyebrow, "Balance Beacon Academy with the Schnee Dust Company? That is an immense weight of responsibility, Miss Schnee-,"

"I can do it," Weiss asserted, "Maybe not yet, but I won't have to all at once. Father won't hand me the company straight out of Beacon like this, nor will I be chairperson when I start. I can handle it,"

Glynda leaned back in her chair again, "I appreciate your resolve Miss Schnee, but this isn't a responsibility that you need commit yourself to yet; you have time to decide, and no one is going to think less of you if you should decline – we could hardly expect you to give up the-,"

"I'm not giving _anything _up, Ma'am," Weiss interrupted again, "If _I _may be frank, _I _will think less of myself if I were to disappoint you on this,"

Goodwitch's eyes narrowed, "Miss Schnee, I've seen your records, and I have a good idea of what you've been through – and certain… _habits _you've developed since childhood – You've spent your _entire life _in a quest to live up to and surpass expectations – don't bother trying to deny it Miss Schnee, I've met your father, I know how he can be. If you are going to join us here at the Academy, I don't want it to be a habitual decision on your part because you're afraid to tell me 'no.' Much as I would like to have you as a protégé, I won't have you crushing yourself under the weight of the world to do it. I want you to think long and hard about this before you accept,"

"The weight of the world?" Weis smiled in a resigned sort of way, "The Schnees are from Atlas ma'am; it's in our blood,"

The instructor sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Yes… I suppose it is…"

* * *

_This is different…_Weiss swore to herself as she replayed her rather candid conversation with Professor Goodwitch almost a week later; she was giving stage directions for the first rehearsal of their performance, _I'm going to do it. Not because I have to, but I want to – and damned if anyone's going to tell me if I can't! _

The matter of the Professor's offer had occupied a great deal of her thought in the last six days. Four years ago, if someone were to suggest to her that she might consider one day both running the SDC _and _teaching besides, she'd have laughed in their face for everyone to see, and then privately cried herself to sleep, petrified that not springing for the opportunity was some kind of unforgivable admission of weakness. Of course, she'd learned a great deal in the intervening four years – come to understand her father better and why he acted the way he did – which was not to say that he was _always right – _but she under stood – and had here at beacon developed a firmer sense of her own capacity and _value, _all of which had led her to the decision that she should accept; not because she had to prove to herself that she was equal to the task, but she _knew _she was strong enough to carry the load.

_What else have the past four years been for? You don't have the luxury of being weak anymore – Hell, if anything, Goodwitch made it easier for you… _

"No, no Jaune!" Weiss's attention snapped back to the here and now at the sight of her directions not being followed, "You don't _hobble across the stage _on your knees, you _walk _up to Pyrrha and _then you kneel!_ After that, she kneels down to offer you a hand back up! What _you _just did…" she shook her head, "Looks _ridiculous!_"

"S-sorry…" the young man stammered back, getting to his feet, "Acting's kind of a first for me…"

"_Seven sisters and not one of them ever roped you into play-acting?_" Weiss asked dubiously, "At least they taught you to _dance… _you'll be needing that in act two…"

All considerations of her career post-Beacon aside, preparations for the RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, and CVFY production of Blake's adapted script '_Humility and Equanimity_' were coming along with mixed results. On the one hand, Blake had finished her scrip in just two days, and thanks to the way that the novel from which she'd adapted the story was written, she'd managed to pair the number of roles down to twelve, so no one would have to double up on parts – or _cross-dress _for that matter. On the downside, None of them could act – well, Weiss herself could sing and had actual stage experience on that account, but no one else did, and it hardly mattered as she was resoundingly voted to the role of stage director for the production, presumably because it involved the most actual _work. _At first Weiss had protested that this really ought to have been Blake's job, seeing as she wrote the script, but Blake had earmarked herself for a minor performance role, _specifically for the purpose of avoiding that responsibility, _or so Weiss had irritably suspected. Whatever the case, upon being so informed that _she _was to manage and direct the production, Weiss had then committed the next twenty-five straight hours to reading the actual novel to get the best feel for the story, and after a further _twelve hours _of uninterrupted sleep – having left Ruby, Yang, Velvet, and Coco with the instructions to start work on costumes – Weiss had been ready to decide on the casting. Jaune and Pyrrha were going to be set opposite each other as the male and female leads of course – hopefully their real-life chemistry would help to offset the fact that their acting was – and the Heiress thought this with love – a _stuttering mess. _Cardin, Russell, and Velvet the three _worst actors _of the lot wouldn't be cast for performance at all – the latter because she was too petrified of the stage to annunciate and the former two because they were simply lousy actors – and instead Velvet was set to the task of lighting and stage effects, whilst Cardin and Russell were to be stage hands. As for the rest, well… Weiss just did her best to slot them in wherever they'd have the least difficulty identifying with, and hopefully _performing _the roles they were given.

_Eight days, ladies and gentlemen…_ Weiss thought apprehensively, _We are so screwed… _

"Weeeeiiiiissss!"

The Heiress sighed, "Yes, Ruby?"

"Do I _have _to wear these stupid, _stupid-,_"

"Yes,"

"But _why?_"

"_Because, _Ruby, a Mistralian society girl does _not _wear _combat boots,_"

"But-,"

"Apupup!"

"_Fine…_"

Weiss shook her head as her Team Leader-turned actress dejectedly stormed off with a concerted effort not to trip, _Yep, definitely screwed…_

Still for all the chaos amidst the rotating rehearsals, script readings, and costuming _nightmares, _everyone did _genuinely _seem to be enjoying themselves, and noticing this, Weiss couldn't help a little smile herself. For all Ruby griped about the heels, she could always be seen laughing over with Yang and Nora between reads, and as surprisingly disappointed as Cardin had been to not be cast for performance, the man made no fuss about it as he got to the task of putting together the set without a problem – he actually had fairly impressive carpentry skills, as it turned out.

_On second thought, this is all coming together nicely – we've only been at it a few days… We can do this. _Her thoughts flashed back to Goodwitch's office again,_ And I can handle all of that, too…_

"Yo Princess! Why the long face?" It was Yang of course, calling over from her reading circle for act one, scene five, "You got your _'respectable' _play after all, so whatcha mopin' about?"

_Honestly…_ Weiss pulled up the text file of the script on her scroll, "Contemplation, Yang, not _moping-_,"

"Pfft. Whatevs. Let's just get this show on the road!"

Weiss facepalmed, but nodded, "Yes… we have _a lot of work to do…_"

**Author's Note: Alright, there we have; the next chapter complete. Next time we'll be moving ahead again to the 'fourteen years after 'I'm Not Perfect' time period again, but barring any major events not **_**currently **_**planned in detail, the schedule should now return to alternating time periods every other chapter instead of every two again. At any rate, thank you for your patience and I'd love to hear what you think. Until next time, have a good one. **


	7. Protect and Serve

_**14 Years After I'm Not Perfect**_

* * *

_**Corolla Mädchen of Team CPRS**_

* * *

"So… I'm… confused…"

"Bout what Siggy?"

"Lydia," Corolla rolled her eyes, "You know she doesn't like it when you call her that…"

"Call 'er what? Ain't it 'er name?" Rhiannon shot her a raised eyebrow.

"That… That is what I was talking about…" Sieglinde piped back in with a little yawn, bracing against the cross-guard of her huge sword, "You called her '_Lydia_' just now… but five minutes ago you said '_Rhiannon…_"

Corolla blinked, "Did I?"

"Ye _do _lose track 'a which name yer using," Rhiannon shrugged, balancing the shaft of her spear on her shoulder.

Corolla facepalmed, "Only because you were such a _troll _about it when we first met…"

Rhiannon chuckled, "Aye, but ye love me~"

"A troll…?" Sieglinde shot Corolla a look now.

Corolla rubbed the back of her head, somewhat embarrassed, "Well, you see, when we _first met _back in Signal, Rhiannon told everybody that her name was _Lydia…_"

"It _is _me middle name~"

"One of _four,_" Corolla shot her a dirty look, "_Anyway, _first time I had a class with her, she answered to _Rhiannon _when the professor took roll, and after we became friends, I _tried to keep it straight, _but six months of using the wrong name first kinda stuck…"

"Eh, ye do pretty good now,"

"You have _four _middle names…?"

"Aye; it's a family tradition!" Rhiannon answered with an ear to ear grin, "Care to guess em?"

"Don't bother Corolla interjected, "I've been her best friend for three and a half years, and I _still _only know three of them…" She drew the longer of her swords, "Now, I hate to be the wet blanket, but if we don't get to training, Professor Schnee isn't going to be happy with us…"

"Bah, why bother? She ain't never happy," Rhiannon snorted.

Rhiannon's six foot three inch tall, greatsword wielding partner, on the other hand, shrank behind her weapon, "I don't want her to yell at me…"

"Looks like you're outvoted Lydia…" Corolla commented dryly.

"Eh; it's the Prof's fault anyhows – if she hadn't had Pippy-,"

"_Piper,_"

"Ah, _whatever,_" Rhiannon rolled her eyes at Corolla's correction, "If she adn't took _Piper _asides, we'd _be _training,"

"Yeah… I don't think she'll see it that way…" Corolla sighed, "Now come on; who wants to spar with me first?"

It had been a little over a week since initiation, and Corolla had liked to think that things were going well; sure, the room always got quiet – and she _swore _the temperature dropped a few degrees – whenever Piper entered, but she was making friends with Sieglinde at least. That was something, _right?_ Running things for Team CPRS, on the other hand, was taking a bit more getting used to, and however unnerving the girl could be, Piper's _absence _wasn't helping anybody's motivation, so Corolla would just have to be the instigator to ensure that something got done_… _

She was team leader after all – much as it _baffled her _to think of it – so she should take the initiative, right? She had to lead by example, and right now that meant volunteering for Team CPRS's first self-directed sparring match, never mind the fact that her perspective opponents were four and _ten _inches taller than her, respectively. Sure, this period was technically 'Supervised Practice' - out in the training fields for space's sake - and not class as such, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays, that supervision came courtesy of Professor _Schnee, _and Professor Schnee wasn't so tolerant of the wasting of time as old man Port or Professor Arc…

"Methinks ye should do it Siggy; I's fought er plenty," Rhiannon gave her partner a fond pat on the back for encouragement, "Sides, a Beowolf's _way bigger _then _er; _she shouldn't scare ye at all,"

"Hey!" Corolla objected, "I'm not _that _short!"

"Ye said 'short,' not me~"

Corolla grumbled, but didn't pursue it; Rhiannon was always quicker with the comebacks anyway, so she instead focused on the duel at hand, "Alright Sieglinde, you ready?"

"Okay…" It must be said that Sieglinde did not sound particularly eager as she hefted all five and a half feet of her sword into a ready position whilst quietly whispering her own little mantra, "_It's just practice… it's just practice… she's not going to hurt you…_"

As Corolla took her own fighting stance, she couldn't help wondering if it was in fact _Sieglinde _who should be worrying about getting hurt; the girl stood a head _and shoulders _taller than Corolla, and her reach was vastly superior. Sieglinde's _sword alone_- Fafnir, she called it – had three inches on Corolla too, and a solid _two feet _on the length of Lövenzahn's longer half… Then and there, she sheathed the longer sword again and drew instead its shorter brother, holding it in a reverse grip instead; she wouldn't gain anything from the extra reach in a fight like this, and against a weapon as large and _heavy _as Sieglinde Schönheitschlafen's Zweihander, attempting to block was worse than pointless.

_Just gonna have to keep moving… _

"You ready?" Corolla asked, at least as much for her own benefit as for Sieglinde's.

The mountain of a girl nodded meekly, "Mmhmm…"

"Then get yer duel on already!"

At Rhiannon's rather… _impatient _mark the two combatants began. Taking a heavy step forward, Sieglinde opened with a two-handed swing, bringing her sword from where it had been resting on her shoulder to bury itself in the first four inches of topsoil where Corolla had been. Corolla dodged, rolling forward and away from the path of the sword and springing up to score a slash now that she was up close. Unfortunately for Corolla, the steal of her weapon clamored harmlessly off of Sieglinde's heavy bracer, as she let go of her weapon with one hand to block the attack before reaching back to it and pulling the blade from the ground, directly into an upward swing. Corolla avoided the blow by leaping over the blade while it was still low to the ground, but before she could make another attack of her own, she had to spring skyward again to avoid a lateral slash powered by the circular follow-through from Sieglinde's last swing. She got _just _high enough to avoid being rather unceremoniously _swatted _from the air, and used her own blade to spring off of the cross-guard of Sieglinde's weapon and propel herself over the drowsy berserker's head to land behind her.

_She's… a lot faster than I would've thought possible with that big steel monster… Think Corolla… Your Semblance is no good in close combat like this; it's just a distraction… got to find a weakness… _She scanned Sieglinde's back quickly, _How does she even MOVE wearing all that armor!?_

She didn't get another second to more closely examine her foe's blind spot though, as Sieglinde abruptly pivoted, catching Corolla by surprise, and slammed the pommel of her weapon into Corolla's back. Her Aura took most of the blow, granted, but it was still a heavy stroke, and she was hard-pressed to smoothly transition tumbling forward into a useful combat roll to avoid the follow-up hammers-stroke of Fafnir's business end. While the sword was embedded in the dirt again though, Corolla saw an opportunity and jumped for it, rather literally in this case.

Corolla leapt again, this time alighting precariously on the upturned cross-guard of her sparring partner's weapon. It was hardly ideal footing, but it kept the weapon in the dirt for the moment, and Corolla didn't mean to stay their long; instead, she used one of the armor plates on Sieglinde's shoulders to vault over her, taking hold of the strap on which she hung the projectile Dust-grenades which Sieglinde fired off of Fafnir's pommel, and as Corolla landed and Sieglinde simultaneously heaved her sword free of the ground, Corolla seized upon the brief moment in which her opponent was off balance to duck to a knee, pulling Sieglinde down with her. The result was less of Corolla's own comparatively minimal physical strength than of applied physics, but either way, Sieglinde toppled backwards an struck terra-firma _hard _as Corolla rolled to safety.

"_Damn…_" Rhiannon winced, "Hell of a move, but _you're _buying the ice cream if she cries…"

"It wasn't _that _hard, was-?" Corolla didn't get to finish her somewhat worried defense though – getting blindsided by a Zweihander has a tendency to cut one's sentences short.

Indeed Sieglinde had fallen , but the impact hadn't stunned her – or if it had, it had not been for long enough for anyone else to tell – and no sooner had she hit the ground than was she back in action. She'd rolled onto her stomach, gotten to a knee, begun a swing, and stood to turn and face Corolla again in step with the momentum of her sword. The astute observer might have noted that Sieglinde had panicked and passed out at the point when Corolla had been standing on her sword – however briefly – and thus that the finishing move with which she'd sent Corolla _flying _had been delivered entirely on muscle memory, but in the final analysis, Corolla was still skidding to a halt on the grass almost twenty yards distant either way.

"Owww…."

"I think perhaps, Miss Mädchen, that there's a lesson to be learned here about turning one's back on the enemy…"

Corolla's eyes snapped open to be met with the inverted forms of Professor Schnee, whom had addressed her, and her own partner, "Hehe… Well… top of the uh… afternoon… Professor?"

"It would seem as though you are on the bottom…" the Professor remarked dryly, "Please do feel free to stand…"

"Oh, right…" Corolla got to her feet, sheathing her short sword, which she'd managed to retain her grip on by some miracle, and dusted herself off, "Sorry to interrupt…"

"Actually, unless I am mistaken, Professor," Piper interjected, "I do believe that we were finished…"

The pointed look that the instructor shot Piper did not escape Corolla's notice, but nonetheless, the white-haired professor nodded, "So we were. Do go rejoin your team, Miss Hamelin; we've yet an hour of training time, and it would be just _shameful _to waste it,"

Piper nodded slightly, "But of course,"

Corolla turned to rejoin her comrades as well – much as she might like to go chat with Ami for a bit on the other side of the field rather than deliver herself for another blow from Fafnir, but Professor Schnee's voice stopped her, "Not you, Corolla. Not yet…"

"Ma'am…?" Corolla turned back to face the teacher, growing nervous, "I _promise _to pay attention next time! Really, it won't happen again-,"

"Good," the professor interrupted, arms crossed over her chest, "But that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about."

"It wasn't?" Corolla couldn't help a slight note of relief.

"No," Professor Schnee shook her head, "I wanted to talk about _her,_"

Corolla glanced back over her shoulder to see as Piper walked away towards Sieglinde and Rhiannon, "Piper?"

"Yes," The rather stern instructor nodded. Corolla had wanted to meet this woman for months before coming to Beacon, but now that she had her for a teacher, Corolla couldn't help thinking that _maybe _her enthusiasm had been a little hasty. Weiss Schnee almost never smiled, and praise always came partnered with a fresh criticism or three, not to mention the rumors going around from the older students claiming that Professor Schnee's final exam for the Combat Practical was pass-fail based upon whether each student could score a hit. _On her. _These complaints aside though, Professor Schnee always did couple her criticisms with pointers, so that was something… "Do correct me if I'm wrong…" the instructor continued, reclaiming Corolla's full attention, although the wisdom of correcting her seemed dubious to Corolla, regardless of how right or wrong she was, "But during your initiation, it was _Miss Hamelin's _idea to lure the horde of Beowolves to your team's position?"

"Yes Ma'am,'"

"But she first advised you to withdraw,"

Corolla swallowed, "Well…"

"It is a simple question, Corolla,"

"Yes Ma'am…" Corolla admitted, "But Ami and Tsuki-,"

"The _smart _decision would have been to listen to Miss Hamelin," Weiss sifted through some files on her scroll as she spoke, "Your grades and skills are impressive, Corolla, but frankly, based on what I've seen Miss Hamelin is better at assessing the situation than you, and at planning besides; a good leader needs to be able to expediently make tough decisions; Miss Hamelin is very good at making those choices that most would find… _difficult…_"

Corolla's heart sank, "And I bet the lives of four people to save two…"

"That you did," The instructor nodded again, before putting her scroll away and folding her arms again, looking corolla dead in the eyes, "Do you know why I wanted to talk to you Corolla?"

Corolla got nervous at that; this _had _to be some kind of test, "You think Piper should be leader-,"

"No," Weiss shook her head with a sigh; wrong answer, "I've doubted Ozpin's judgment on that subject once before, and learned my lesson since. No, Piper Hamelin _should not _lead Team CPRS, _you _were the right choice, but that said, you aren't filling that role,"

"Ma'am…?" She felt a knot tie up in the pit of her stomach, _What am I not doing? I can't disappoint her, she's the reason I can be here!_

"You are smart, Corolla, I've seen that much; you took the reins after things went to Hell in a hand-basket during initiation, and everyone made it out okay because you were able to think on your feet – not to mention the _immense _value of that Semblance of yours as a planning tool. All that's left is for you to take full advantage of those abilities and _lead _your team, rather than simply supporting them. You need to take more charge, like when you refused to leave Miss Terasu and Miss Yomikawa; you can be a best friend to your teammates all you want on campus, but the battlefield _is not a democracy._"

"Okay…" Corolla scratched the back of her head, "So then… why _isn't _Piper a better choice…?"

Weiss Schnee sighed, "A leader needs to be prepared to make those tough choices about who lives and who dies in our line of work, Corolla, but that doesn't mean that a leader should always assume that _someone _has to die; it should be only when there is _no other choice _that the thought of spending someone's life should enter you mind. Let that sink in: God forbid one of your teammates should have to _die _on the battlefield, it is up to _you _to make _damn sure _that their sacrifice was worth it, do you understand?"

"So when I refused Piper so we could save Ami and-,"

"No," the Professor interrupted, shaking her head again, "First and foremost, a Huntress lives, and if need be, _dies _for the safety of those who can't protect themselves; generally, that applies to civilians, but in Terasu and Yomikawa's case, you made the right call, and I'm proud of you for that,"

"Really-?"

"_But…_"

_Should've known…_

"If you are going to make those important decisions in a manner such that you hopefully _never face _the decision about which of your teammates has to _die, _then you need to fully understand your teammates and the role for which they – and you yourself – are suited. So tell me, what are _your proficiencies?_"

Corolla's mouth set in a line as she thought, and tried not to get distracted by the sounds of combat behind her which signaled that her teammates had initiated another sparring match in her absence – Rhiannon and Sieglinde, judging by the noise level – Piper's matches were always eerily quiet, "Umm… Long range combat, advance planning, and melee combat against targets similar to or moderately larger than my own size…?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"T-telling ma'am…"

"Such being the case, I believe that Miss Schönheitschlafen is currently swinging five and a half feet of steel that disagree with that last one," the professor remarked, "But that can be improved upon, so I'll let it slide; what, then, can you tell me about how you should deploy _yourself _ in a combat scenario?"

"I should position myself strategically at a key, preferably elevated position with as broad a view as possible," Corolla answered confidently; this, at least, was her element.

"And if that's not an option?"

"I stay on the move and take advantage of superior mobility and foresight when possible,"

"Good," Weiss gestured behind Corolla, to where, as she'd suspected, Rhiannon and Sieglinde were having it out, "Now what about them?"

"Front and center, in chokepoints if possible; they're definitely our heavy hitters," Corolla answered, her confidence somewhat flagging.

"And Miss Hamelin?"

Corolla took a deep breath as she thought that one over, closing her eyes to think, "As… close to_ me _as is feasible; she's at her most vulnerable when she's playing that flute, but the way she can deal with small _hordes _in so doing is… impressive…"

"Distasteful though it is?" the Instructor remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't say-,"

"You may as well have," Weiss cut her off again, gesturing now to Piper, who was watching the sparring match disinterestedly, "Although for what it's worth, Piper Hamelin _is _an… unsettling case; her… _skills _speak for themselves in the field but she doesn't seem to value much, or indeed to have any motivation to pursue this line of work, yet here she is,"

"And you think that's a problem?"

"That depends," Weiss answered, turning back to Corolla, "On what _you _make of your role. Miss MacCoul and Miss Schönheitschlafen are the _muscle _of Team CPRS, and as adaptable as you've proven yourself, it is _Piper _who is the mind. Your job then, is to be the _conscience; _Piper may be a bit more circumspect, and better at analyzing a situation than you, Corolla, but that's alright, as long as you keep her in check – and conversely, know when to _take advantage _of her wisdom, cold though it may be. Your task as relates to Piper is to judge, case by case, whether or not her thoughts on a situation line up with the primary goal of protecting the people of Remnant, Corolla; if a Huntress's duty was simply to kill Grimm and minimize our own casualties, then Piper would _absolutely _be leading your team, but that _isn't _all we're here for, and it's your job to make sure that your Team can stand and fight even when the deck's stacked against you, and to make sure they pull through anyway. The point of being a leader is _not _that you are the strongest, smartest, or fastest person on your team, Corolla, it's that you understand and know how to best apply your own skills and those of your teammates,"

"Yes… yes Ma'am…" Corolla nodded, wide-eyed as she saw past the criticisms to the sheer value of the impartation of wisdom she'd been provided, "I um… thank you… Can I be honest with you Ma'am?"

For an instant – and it was only an instant – Corolla thought that she saw a slightly pained look cross her teacher's features, but it passed too quickly to be sure as she answered, "I do prefer honesty as a matter of policy…"

Corolla took another deep breath, "I hadn't really been so sure about this whole 'leadership' thing up to now… I mean, I knew I wanted to be a huntress – I mean, Dad's motto's always been '_protect and serve_,' and I figured that-,"

"Your point, Miss Mädchen?" Miss Schnee's expression had definitely soured after Corolla had started on about her father…

_She probably thinks I'm just rambling – hell, she's kind of right… _Corolla sighed, "Well I guess what I'm getting at is I'd never really thought of myself as a _leader – _not little old _me…_"

Weiss Schnee took a moment's pause before she answered, "Humility is a good quality for a leader to have; it keeps you from making stupid decisions,"

"Right…" Corolla nodded tentatively, "But anyway, I want to thank you for this… It… it really cleared some stuff up for me… Like what my job is, for one…"

"That's _my_ job,"

"Um… speaking of which…" Corolla asked hesitantly, "I haven't really been getting much out of Professor Port's lectures… and I was wondering if you might… give me some pointers about how to study for his course…?"

There it was; Professor Schnee cracked a little smile. It was only for a second, but still… "Deciphering the old man's tall tales is an _art, _and it takes patience to master, but in the meantime, I have a few volumes that you could borrow; Unfortunately, I have an… _appointment _this evening, but if you stop by my office after classes tomorrow, I'd be happy to lend them to you,"

Corolla _bowed, _profusely displaying her gratitude, "_Thank you so much!_ I was getting worried about the test…"

"I expect no less than a perfect score if you borrow these, Miss Mädchen,"

"Crap…" That minor added stressor aside, Corolla couldn't help but feel good about the exchange as the ivory-haired professor dismissed her to call over a member of Team ALTO; she'd just gone through an extended lecture with _'The White Witch,' _and not only lived to tell about it, but was _probably _better for the experience – although she'd reserve the final word on that subject for _after _she aced Port's first quiz…

* * *

_**Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company**_

* * *

"I must say ma'am, this is an odd place to conduct official company business…"

"Well noted, _old friend, _but this isn't official Company business," Weiss answered matter-of-factly, "Oh, and Dunkel, do keep the quips to a minimum while we're inside, and as always, _you saw nothing,_"

The man clicked his tongue as Weiss led the way into an establishment whose signage proclaimed it as 'The Match Girl,' "I don't know Ma'am, this is all so very _interesting…_It isn't every day that an executive of the Schnee Dust Company meets the Chief of police under such… _subtle _circumstances…"

"_Not. A. Word._" She commanded as the door swung shut behind them, "Your services are valuable, Mr. Dunkel, _not irreplaceable; _do not test me,"

"Aye Ma'am…"

"Good," Weiss nodded approvingly, "Now follow my lead, and do try to remember that I've been at this longer than you have,"

"Are you suggesting that I follow you simply because you are my elder, Miss Schnee?"

"Perish the thought," Weiss rolled her eyes, before adding in whisper as she scanned the room, "I suggest that you follow me because I sign your paychecks and I'll kick your _ass _if you don't,"

"Point taken,"

Wissen Dunkel was incredibly _useful _as employees went – smart, quick, and quite good in a scrape – which was why Weiss paid the man. Unfortunately, the man had a tendency toward the wry jibes. He was wise beyond his years, granted, but he could sorely tax Weiss's patience at times, thanks to the almost cocky attitude that came with that intelligence, particularly seeing as the man was just _twenty-five_ – not that one would ever suspect that to look at him and see the odd streaks of grey in his hair. He was the sort of man that could fade out of sight in any corner if you weren't looking for him – at least until he opened his mouth for another wisecrack.

"There he is," Weiss muttered, noting the man with fading blonde hair seated alone at a corner table, "Best behavior, Dunkel,"

"Aye then,"

Satisfied, Weiss clasped her hands at the small of her back and approached the corner table. The man seated there, chief of the Vale Police Department, was in his early fifties and dressed well, but not for the job, which was well, seeing as he wasn't on it, and neither of them cared to be recognized if it could at all be avoided. The man had been anxiously drumming his fingers on the table in front of him, but upon looking up and seeing Weiss beside his table, that particular mannerism ceased, and he pulled his hand under the table.

"Hello Halden,"

"Ms. Schnee…"

Weiss took the seat opposite Halden Mädchen, her face a mask of ice and stone, "I understand that you wanted to see me; frankly, it isn't mutual, but here I am,"

"Would you just _drop _the self-righteous _bull-,_"

"Mr. Mädchen, it is within my power to make your life _very difficult_, and I have not; I suggest a little gratitude," Weiss said icily, "But if you insist on the pleasantries before we dispense with the business so that we can be rid of each other, _fine. _Tell me, how _is _my mother doing? I trust that she is living comfortably?"

The man winced, "She's fine… And my daughter?"

"Corolla is doing quite well, actually," Weiss leaned back in her chair, "She is an upstanding Huntress-in-training, and working quite hard to overcome her team's… particular challenges," She snorted derisively, "Much as it _sickens me _to say this, it seems that you _actually _make a good father… the irony is simply detestable…"

The suppressed indignation couldn't keep back the relief on the man's face, "I've been worried sick ever since she left for Beacon – _you _just _had _to fill her head with ideas about being a _huntress-,_"

"_Angela Snow, _you mean?" Dunkel remarked from where he stood against the wall a few feet away.

Weiss shot him a look, but decided to let it pass. Halden was less forbearing as his attention snapped to the man he'd only then noticed; Dunkel's own propensity to be overlooked in conjunction with the Schnee tendency to _draw attention _having obfuscated Wissen's presence from Mädchen, "Who the hell is _this?_ I told you this was-!"

"And it _will _be kept quiet," Weiss interrupted, raising a hand for silence, "Although that is of course assuming that _you _can keep your voice down…"

The aging man gritted his teeth, but quieted, "_Who is he?_"

Weiss held up her hand again, this time to keep Dunkel from answering for himself, "Think of him as SDC _loss prevention; _nothing you could say here won't find its way to _him – _whether either of us want it to or not, admittedly – he's a touch irksome that way, but the point stands; he stays,"

"Are you trying to intimidate me, _Schnee?_"

Weiss chuckled, "Hardly; I don't need _him _for that, now do I?"

Halden was silent.

"Ah, but that's enough chat, Mr. Mädchen; why _did _you call me here?"

"This is my favorite bar,"

"Hmm?"

"You know why?" Halden asked rhetorically, "Because the owner named the place after his daughter – apparently she almost burnt the place down as a kid, playing with matches, of all things – ah, but that isn't important…"

"Indeed…" Weiss raised an eyebrow, and Dunkel watched the older man attentively.

"What I'm getting at is, well, you might hate my guts Schnee, and you've got a right to, but I love my little girl, and I'm worried _sick _about her going outside the walls for that damned _school _of yours, so the last thing I want is for her not to be safe _inside them,_"

Weiss's eyes narrowed, "What are you getting at, Mädchen?"

Halden picked up a small steel case from the seat beside him and passed it to Weiss over the table, placing the key on top, "I mean _these,_"

Suspicion plain on her features, Weiss took the case, and used the key to open it away from both Halden and Dunkel. Her eyes widened when they fell upon the two black crystals before she calmly, but nonetheless swiftly shut and re-locked the case, "Where did _you _get _these?_"

"They've been buried in Evidence since the siege of the city fourteen years back," Halden explained, "_Officially, _our forensics teams are still trying to figure out just _what the hell kind of Dust it is, _but nobody's touched the stuff in ten years. It's just been _sitting there, _waiting for some crooked bastard to decide to sell them to God-knows who to make some extra cash…"

"I suppose it would be pointless for me to ask why Vale authorities never solicited the assistance of the Schnee Dust Company?"

"Hell if I know; this was above my pay grade until long after everybody just _forgot about it – _I only found them because we did an inventory of evidence from all the cold cases last week, and once I knew what I was looking at, I pulled some strings to have them… _disappear_. The evidence report that goes with those… _things _states that one each was found near the north and south gates after the siege…"

Weiss nodded, "Makes sense, and for what it's worth, you're right to worry – if somebody had actually _touched these _anywhere near the walls…" she sighed, dismissing her apprehension and restoring her previous stony demeanor, "Alright Halden, I'll take these off your hands and out of Vale; there will be no repeat of the siege on my watch, so rest easy. Corolla will be _fine _within the walls, that much, I promise you,"

"What's your word to me on _that?_" The aging man challenged.

"Nothing," Weiss allowed, "But she's _my _blood too Halden; I'm not going to _let_ anything happen to her," She stood from her seat and took the case and its key both with her, "But Halden…"

"What Schnee?"

"I still think you're a horrible man…"

"Fair enough…"

"But I meant what I said earlier; _damned _if I want to believe it, but you're a good father, if nothing else…"

* * *

"Well that was… sweet of you… in your own way-,"

"Not another word Wissen," Ordered the Chief Operational Officer of the SDC in Vale; one did not argue with _that voice – _not even Dunkel.

"Yes Ma'am…"

Nodding her acknowledgement of the obedience, she then held up the case to him in one hand, but not its key, "I want you to deliver this to the Forever Fall quarry facility, _directly _into the hands of Cardin Winchester, _and no one else. _Speak of this to no one, do not make any detours, and _above all, do not attempt to open the box_. Is that understood?"

Dunkel accepted the case with a raised eyebrow, "Do you or _don't you _want me to open it? Because now I am _very curious…_"

"In all likelihood you will not make it there in _one piece _if you open that along the way, Dunkel. Do not open the box."

"Suppose then that I am discreet about it-,"

"Do you prefer poppies or marigolds, Mr. Dunkel?"

A look of sincere perplexity passed over Wissen's somewhat creased face at this, "Poppies… although I'm not certain how that is-,"

"I'll send some to your funeral,"

"Ah…"

**Author's Note: Okay, so before we conclude, I would like to thank Zarrock1138 for supplying the character of Dunkel Wissen; I needed a character to fill the role, and the OC he volunteered worked rather nicely; it isn't a huge role, but we will be seeing more of him, so I thought it only right to give a shout out to the character's original creator. **

**Secondly, for those of you who may be interested, I suppose it's time I got around to explaining the other members of Team CPRS (pronounced _Cyprus_) to some extent. Rhiannon MacCoul (or, in full, **_**Rhiannon Lydia Morgan Ysolde Mary MacCoul**_**) is inspired loosely by a number of figures from British Isles/Celtic folklore, the principle examples of which being **_**Rhiannon **_**and Finn MacCoul. Sieglinde Schönheitschlafen is a hybrid reference both to Siegfried **_**and **_**Sleeping Beauty, and the reason why she can literally fight **_**in her sleep**_** is because her Semblance is a bit more passive than others, and consists both of extraordinary levels of muscle-memory and working around the human brain's natural subconscious limiters on muscle output so as not to damage one's own body… This **_**may or may not **_**matter later… haven't yet decided… (although incidentally, I do apologize for spamming the German; it's the only non-English language with which I have any workable familiarity...) Finally, Piper Hamelin draws on the Pied Piper of Hamelin, though for the time being I'll leave you to make of that what you will, because spoilers. At any rate, I do believe that should be all for now, so do feel free to fav, follow, or review, and until next time, have a good one!**


	8. A Moment's Peace

**Author's Note: Okay, so before we begin, I just have a point of clarification to make. Firstly, in this AU, there is no Winter Schnee – not so much because I don't like the idea of Weiss having a sister (*cough* Corolla *cough*) but at time of writing, we no next to nothing about Winter, and I don't want to speculate in order to shoehorn in a character who I hadn't intended when I started. Additionally, looking back over this and I'm Not Perfect, I realized that, for most of the writing, I'd been writing under the assumption that Velvet – and by extension Team CVFY – were also first years, which has of course since been proven not to be the case, but in the interest of internal consistency, I am also going to overlook that canonical fact – hopefully you can pardon me for that. That much having been said, I do hope that you enjoy anyway, and doo feel free to let me know what you think!**

* * *

_**Four Years After I'm Not Perfect**_

* * *

_**Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon**_

* * *

"That time of year again…" Glynda Goodwitch sighed heavily as she sifted through the ever-mounting list of requests, notices, and complaints on her scroll, "Best get this over with…"

The Commencement festivities were always chaotic, granted, but it seemed that the little _combat exercise _two weeks previously had proven itself to be just the tip of the iceberg this year. The displays alone were enough of a headache; Teams SPHR and DMND were selling Dust-imbued jewelry – which would seem innocuous enough in itself, if it weren't for the fact that they had unintentionally _detonated _several 'prototypes' and thus demolished Team SPHR's dorm – and Teams CHRY, VNLA, and CRML were opening a 'mobile' ice cream parlor for the weekend…

"Hopefully there won't be too much damage…"

"Rest easy Glynda," the Headmaster's voice sounded from behind the somewhat exasperated professor, "Much as is made of the 'purpose' of these festivities, first and foremost it is meant for the students to unwind at the conclusion of their four years of diligent study before they take that first step out into true responsibility; let their whimsy pass – and perhaps indulge yourself a bit as well for once, no?"

Glynda turned to the headmaster, standing just behind her and off to the side of where she was observing the festivities and various booths in the courtyard, cane in one hand and ubiquitous coffee mug in the other, "And who then would prevent anarchy around here?" the words were barbed, but her tone of voice betrayed amusement, "I've never been one for things of this nature in any event,"

"You really ought to try it sometime Glynda," Ozpin rejoined, "While it is true that moderation is important, that particular platitude works both ways; one cannot live solely for work,"

"No, but one must work to live," Glynda shot back, swiftly pressing a few icons on her scroll which enjoined Dr. Oobleck to investigate a disturbance that had been reported in the East wing – it was probably nothing more than a handful of fourth years a little too into the festivities, but it was best to be sure, "and at any rate, I do enjoy a _challenge…_"

The Headmaster of Beacon Academy chuckled, "Well fair enough…" he took a sip from his coffee as one of _several _Dust-powered mobile ice-cream counters sped past and Glynda winced, "Indeed…"

Glynda sighed, making a note on her scroll to have a word with one Violet Blumenthal of Team VNLA about reckless driving, "Now if you'll excuse me sir, I have order to maintain…"

"Actually Glynda…"

"Hmmm?"

"Abel Schnee will be arriving shortly to attend the performance put on by his daughter and her friends…"

The bespectacled blonde shot Ozpin a raised eyebrow, "Really? Well… _interesting _as that is sir-,"

"A certain lieutenant from the Vale Police Department by the name of Halden Mädchen will also be attending with his wife and daughter… If at all possible, I would like you to endeavor to ensure that Misters Schnee and Mädchen need not meet, yes?"

Glynda's brow furrowed at this request and returned her gaze to her scroll, where she keyed up the records for what visitors had entered the campus in admission to the festival, scanning until she found the name of Mädchen. She did not recognize Lieutenant Halden Mädchen, but his wife… "Oh Dear…"

Ozpin nodded, "I do not _anticipate _a problem, but you of all people appreciate that old saying about an ounce of prevention…"

Glynda nodded, "I'll… see what I can do…"

Ozpin nodded in turn, sipping his coffee again, "Very well… I'll leave you to it then…" and with that, the Headmaster started off toward the ballroom and presumably the mixer being held there.

"Abel Schnee…" Glynda's expression set itself in a line. She'd first met the man all that time ago when she'd attended Beacon, but he'd been a very different man then than he'd since become. Then, he'd been reserved, but generally polite and well-meaning. She'd even attended his wedding – _to the woman who now went by Mrs. Mädchen… _She didn't need to know the circumstances of his divorce, but given all that the Schnee family had done and been through since Abel's father had passed, she could take an educated guess. It did explain a fair bit about Weiss Schnee though… Abel Schnee had always 'lived to work' as Ozpin described it, but based on the few times Glynda had met the man since their graduation, it seemed as though at some point in the intervening time, Abel Schnee had forgotten how to live for anything else. Growing up with that as her role model certainly did indeed explain a great deal about the man's daughter.

Glynda cringed at the thought, "This is going to be a long day…"

* * *

**Weiss Schnee the Big Sister**

* * *

Weiss heaved a sigh; two weeks had not been nearly enough time to prepare a production on this scale, even if they had gone with a previously existing script. The costumes were simple, the stage had been crude – if sturdy – and the lot of them were sorely deficient in rehearsal time to perform Blake's opus. Weiss had given the best direction she could, but she cringed just thinking about how stilted almost all of the lines had come out most of the time – well, except for Nora – massive ham that she was. What made all of this worse was that the amphitheater for the first performance was packed, which of course meant more people to revel in their miserable failure, although perhaps that was not being entirely fair; they received a standing ovation when the sixteen of them took their bows, so maybe Weiss was just being overly critical.

Just a bit… She allowed, Wouldn't be the first time…

RWBY, JNPR, CVFY, and CRDL were slated for one performance for each of the three days of the festival, but apart from their 1-4 PM performances Friday and Saturday, and the 6-9 performance closing night, they were pretty much free to move about and enjoy the weekend. It was a nice change of pace, Weiss supposed; while they'd ostensibly been free of any sort of classes for the past two weeks, the mad scramble to put a halfway decent play together had easily consumed most of her time, so now was really her first of precious few hours of free time. Lamentably though, she found herself at a loss for how best to enjoy them. Ruby and Yang were preoccupied showing their father around, as were Jaune and Pyrrha similarly tied up introducing each other to their families, whom in Pyrrha's case had come a very long way to meet Jaune. To her knowledge though, Weiss herself simply had the better part of three days' worth of free time.

Idly she walked along the campus, buying a cup of coffee at one of the less ambitios stalls here, or indulging in a little childish fancy by buying a snow cone from Team CHRY's preposterous mobile ice cream counter there, but all told she was just listing about with no particular purpose in mind. That was well enough, she supposed – the last four years had been spent in preparation of one sole purpose anyway, so indulging a little fancy now seemed earned, if not perhaps necessary. Ironically though, the little liberties felt forced in their purposelessness, and she could not help waxing contemplative as she went.

It was strange to think that this – the festival, the school, the students, all of it – was going to be her responsibility, even if only at some length of time. She had always respected Professor Goodwitch of course, but it was only now that she'd really given herself the time to think on the sheer weight of the duty which she had agreed to inherit, over and above that of the Schnee family name and legacy. She'd been confident when she had accepted the offer in Goodwitch's office, and she did not regret having done so now, but it would not have been entirely truthful for her to have said that she knew how she would carry all of that responsibility. Somehow though, it did not worry her too much, though that was not to say that the pressure felt distant; she was more acutely aware now, despite – or rather because – of the general state of merriment which couldn't last forever that sooner rather than later, she was going to have to step up and fill the role.

"And why not? It's what you've spent most of your life doing," She mused to herself without bitterness; it was a simple truth really, and while that role had been more flexible than simply 'the model Schnee' over the past few years, it still represented expectations to be met and surpassed, and damned if she didn't pride herself on doing just that, "I can – will – do this,"

Indeed it was more the general listlessness of her present that vexed Weiss more than the burdens of her future; steep though the struggles promised to be, they were defined; right now though… She wasn't quite sure what to do with herself.

Letting out a sigh, Weiss closed her eyes and craned her head back to stare up at the sky from where she was seated on a bench, "And now we wait…"

* * *

"_Corolla! Corolla come back! Watch where you're going!"_

_Huh...?Must've dozed and-, _Weiss's eyes shot open as a heavy weight suddenly slammed into her stomach, "Gah! What the-?"

"Corolla! Apologize!"

"S-sorry lady…"

Weiss blinked the drowsiness from her eyes as she sat up, correcting her posture to find a little blonde girl with a dandelion barrette holding her bangs out of her face performing a comically exaggerated bow by way of apology before darting away to hide behind her mother, _Am I really that frightening? _At a second look though, Weiss Schnee's hart very nearly stopped, _Oh my God, that's…_

Abruptly Weiss got to her feet, briefly dusting herself off and putting on her best professionally fake smile and extending a hand to little Corolla, "Oh, it's alright; no harm done. I probably shouldn't have been dozing anyway…"

The little girl of about seven or eight giggled, but nonetheless looked up at her mother first for assurance before gingerly accepting the handshake, "Sorry… I lost my flower…"

Weiss blinked at this peculiar response, until the little girl held up a toy shaped like a camellia blossom with tiny frost and burn Dust crystals at the center, "Ah… so I see you went by Team PETL's toy stand…" Weiss smiled, gently taking the artificial flower, "These things are actually pretty clever – you see, they work on convection, so if you channel just a _tiny bit _of Aura through the Burn crystal, it creates a thermal updraft and…" Weiss trailed off upon seeing the blank look on the first-grader's face, "…It flies if you can make the red crystal glow…"

With that, Weiss held the flower in the palm of one hand and channeled her Aura to demonstrate. Normally she'd condemn the concept of giving Dust to _children, _but the dulled, lackluster quality to the crystal's red hue marked it as mostly spent, so it was utterly harmless. As the flower began to spin like a pinwheel and began to rise off of her open palm, little Corolla's eyes lit up in amassment as the white flower levitated, "Like this," Weiss said, cutting off the minute trickle of Aura and letting the toy flutter back down onto her hand, "Now you try; just concentrate on the red crystal, okay?"

Corolla nodded emphatically as she took the flower-shaped toy back sat on the bench to try it for herself, leaving Weiss to look across to her mother, "Hello… Mrs. Mädchen…"

"Hello Weis…"

"I wasn't expecting to see you here… what with…" Weiss sighed, "Is Halden…?"

Weiss's mother shook her head, "Yes, but not here; he ran into some old friends among the other parents…"

Weiss sighed again, with relief this time, "In that case, I'm happy to see you – although don't you think this is a little…" She gestured Corolla's way, who was presently concentrating intently on the toy flower trying to make it fly again, but thus far only succeeding in causing it to wobble, "_risky? _She's getting old enough to understand what's going on if you're not careful…"

Her mother smiled, "Don't worry yourself so much about that; Corolla actually asked to come _before _I got the chance to suggest it. She's serious about being a Huntress – just like _you,_"

"Just like _Angela Snow,_" Weiss corrected, "I hope she wasn't hoping to _meet _her…"

"I told her that Angela was too busy…"

_The irony… The one time in four years when I'm not busy… _Weiss shook her head, dismissing the thought, "Well I suppose that works… If she asks, you can go ahead and tell her she met Weiss Schnee today then…"

"You could introduce yourself as _Angela _if you prefer, Weiss…" Her mother smiled sadly.

Weiss shook her head, "No; _Angela Snow _is not going to be her teacher if she makes it as far as Beacon…"

"Teacher…" Mrs. Mädchen took a moment to process it before pulling Weiss into a brief hug and congratulating her, "So you are going to work _here _instead of-,"

"_Alongside,_" Weiss corrected again, more firmly this time, "I have a duty to the family too, Mother,"

The older woman, who to most anyone else appeared as though a perplexingly interested complete stranger, sighed, "That seems a bit much Dear…"

Weiss shook her head, "Father always said that it was good to keep busy,"

"That's what worries me…" the former Mrs. Schnee looked away, "You do know that attitude destroyed our marriage-,"

Weiss felt a little pang of anger well up inside her briefly, but she controlled it, and responded calmly and quietly, "Mother, we will _not _discuss _that; _I am not married, and _the divorce _was as much your doing as his,"

"I… I know…" Weiss's mother looked away, but seeing Corolla she turned back to Weiss, "I just don't want to see you do to yourself what your Father did…"

"I won't have responsibility for the whole of the company right away – and besides, I wouldn't know what to do with any free time anyway…"

"I don't know about that," Weiss's mother smiled, "you seemed to make good use of the past two weeks,"

"Weiss's eyes widened just a bit, more from embarrassment than anything else, "You… saw the play…"

Mrs. Mädchen chuckled, "Yes, and it was a sweet little show…"

"The performances were wooden and amateurish, you mean,"

"No, I mean sweet," the older woman shook her head, "It's just a pity that you couldn't be on stage…"

"Then who would direct?" Weiss's slight smile returned, "Someone has to, and it wasn't going to be the star…"

"Ooh! Ooh! I got it! I did it!" Both grown women turned to behold the spectacle of the excited little girl finally making the flower-shaped toy take to the air. She was practically bouncing in her seat on the bench, smiling brightly as the little spinning white flower levitated up past her face, "It's _flying!_"

"Well look at that… She did it…" Weiss smiled, "It looks like she really does have some potential…"

Weiss's mother gave her an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder, "She really does want to be _just like you, Angela Snow… _Please…_when she gets here… _Look out for her…"

"I will," Weiss nodded, "Although…" she added as Corolla got up from the bench and tore off across the courtyard chasing her flying toy, which had been swept away on a breeze, "For now, _you _might want to go look out for her…"

Mrs. Mädchen nodded with a sigh, "I do… It's… been nice to see you Weiss…"

"You too Mom," And with a quick hug, mother parted from daughter and made to follow the child trying to catch her toy. "Hope to see you soon…" it was a quiet, private addition, meant only for herself, though it did not stay that way.

"Angela Snow, hmmm?"

Weiss turned with a start to find a figure she'd recognize anywhere, what with the cane and the double-breasted white jacket, waiting with the same stern look as when last she'd seen him, both hands resting atop his cane, "…Father? I… I wasn't expecting you-,"

"No, I would say that much is fairly self-evident," He interrupted, "As indeed neither of us were expecting your mother or her… _child…_"

"Father, please don't make this about her-,"

"I did not come here to waste my time, Weiss," He interrupted again, though his expression softened somewhat, "I came to see that your education had come to a satisfactory conclusion,"

Weiss didn't need to ask, "You saw the play…"

"Passable," Abel Schnee confirmed, "For amateurs on two weeks' notice. Still, well done,"

Weiss blinked, "Well done? I… thank you-,"

"Now if we may, _to business…_"

Weiss felt a cold weight in the pit of her stomach; Abel Schnee probably was not going to like what his daughter had to say about her career decisions, "Yes Father…"

"Good," The Chairman of the Schnee Dust Company nodded, "I trust that you have been attending to your business studies in your time here?"

"Separately, but yes…" Weiss nodded, not volunteering anything further.

"Good," He nodded again, "Because , upon your graduation, I expect you to take a position in the company,"

Weiss nodded, "Yes sir…"

"You will be working here in Vale," He continued, much to Weiss's surprise, "Professor Goodwitch has informed me of your decision to teach here, as well as your responsibilities to the company,"

"Father, I-,"

"I should expect nothing less," He pressed on, to Weiss's even greater surprise, "Although I expect you not to compromise either responsibility for the other; do I make myself clear?"

'Yes sir…"

"Is that a question or an answer, Weiss?"

"Yes _Sir,_"

Abel nodded, "Good." He paused for thought, "It has been arranged that your team's first independent field assignment will be a search-and-destroy sweep of the northeast quadrant of the Forest of Forever Fall. Why?"

Abel Schnee knew the answer, of that much, Weiss was certain; this was a test, "Quarry site 173. I take it that we will be assigned to make our base of operations there?" Weiss asked. It did not at all surprise her that her father knew these things – he probably had something to do with it.

"So you shall," He nodded, "When you get there, I want you to pay _very _close attention to what you see there. Site 173 will be the _center _of your responsibilities to the company going forward; its _security _is of the utmost importance Weiss, this much I cannot stress to you enough."

Weiss furrowed her brow, for the first time turning to actually look at him as everyone else on the campus went on with their carefree time, "_Four Huntresses _for extra security? Isn't that excessive – even _discounting _the standing security forces…"

"You will understand when you get there," He shook his head, "I have already ceased mining operations at the site, but until such time as a solution for the problem can be enacted, security must be maintained."

"Alright…" Weiss nodded slowly, eyes narrowed, "But what is this about?"

"I am certain that you remember the siege of the city three years ago," It wasn't a question, "I'll have no repeat of that whilst I chair the Schnee Dust Company,"


End file.
